Since 1983 the Museum of London's Department of Greater London Archaeology has completed nine rescue excavations (HGS. I and 2) and numerous watching briefs in advance of redevelopment within the area of the Roman cemetery to the east of the City of London. The excavations have uncovered 104 cremations and 575 inhumations, dating from the first to the fifth centuries A.D. This article is intended to make known some of the initial results in advance of full publication.

The cemetery lay on a gravel terrace 600–700 m north of the River Thames. The geology of the area consists of sands and gravels, locally overlain by brickearth. The cemetery was typical of urban Roman cemeteries, sited beyond the city limits and adjacent to a road from the city. It extended at least 600 m to the east of the city wall and covered an area of over 16.5 ha.

From the moment of its first publication in 1903 the career inscription of C. Velius Rufus has been the subject of a great deal of attention and scholarly debate. Why this should have been so is clear enough: the text records the career of a man who, beginning as a centurion (probably not in the ranks), not only rose to the coveted primipilate but went on to important independent field commands and an administrative career which culminated in major procuratorial governorships. More important still for historians of the period, the career included special commands which shed vital new light on the otherwise often obscure warfare of the reign of Domitian. The interpretation and chronology of the career as it appears in standard textbook treatments of the period may be said to be essentially that of Ritterling as modified and refined by a succession of eminent scholars, notably Syme, Pflaum and Dobson. This mainstream interpretation was summarized most recently by the last of these in 1978. From the outset, however, and in parallel with the development of this standard view, there have been a number of dissenters: von Domaszewski disagreed with Ritterling on a crucial point and, since then, there have been challenges to various aspects from, for example, McElderry, Hanslik, Saxer and Visy. Indeed, in the same year as Dobson presented a refined restatement of the orthodox interpretation, Visy coincidentally, offered a major re-examination. These earlier challenges, however, tend often to disagree with one another and, just as many to-day will be unconvinced by Visy's proposed revisions so, in most cases, his forerunners have found little support. This should not, however, obscure an important point, namely that there has been persistent dissatisfaction with the standard view from the outset. Nor should the implausibility or weakness of the proposed alternatives detract from the very serious nature of some of the objections raised.

The present paper originally formed part of a Forschungsbericht on all the main branches of interior decoration in Roman Britain prepared for Aufstieg und Niedergang der römischen Welt n, 12, 4 in 1981-82. Since fifteen years have elapsed without any sign of ANRW, 11, 12, 4 seeing the light of day, I have decided to publish a new version, revised and updated to cover the half-century 1945-1995. The main difference is that the section on wall-paintings, on which I have written extensively elsewhere, is now omitted. What remains is primarily a review of research into Romano-British mosaic pavements, with brief comments on other media (opus sectile, wall-mosaic, and stuccowork) appended in a concluding section. The nucleus of this review is the Bibliography, arranged partly by themes and partly by locations, with items numbered serially (Section iv); reference will be made to it, where appropriate, in footnotes.

This paper examines the landscape context of the Bartlow Hills, a group of large Romano-British barrows that were excavated in the 1840s but have been largely neglected since. GIS is employed to test whether it was possible to view the mounds from nearby roads, barrows, and villas. Existing research on provincial barrows, and especially their landscape context, and some recent relevant applications of GIS are reviewed. We argue that barrows are active and symbolically charged statements about power and identity. The most striking pattern to emerge from the GIS analysis is a focus on display to a local rather than a transient audience.

The research undertaken on the Scheldt Valley Commercial Activity Zone was the frst large-scale excavation in the Valenciennes region (northern France), permitting an insight into the organization of a large territory. It has yielded a great wealth of data on land use and settlement and it forms a key point of reference for any future research within the region for each of the studied periods. The article discusses the characteristics of the occupation of the territory, allowing the development of new models for the occupation, structure, and management of the land and the institution of settlements and their related material culture. It argues for a Roman-indigenous land cadaster, until now not observed for this part of Roman France. The different enclosures and their internal organization are described (buildings, wells, ponds, an artisanal zone, a road system, and a burial zone), showing the persistence of numerous protohistoric sites into Roman times, which is explained by the continuity of the agricultural system and a voluntary integration into a Roman administration. The Onnaing-Scheldt Valley demonstrates the importance of large-scale excavations for the understanding of land use.

There are over two thousand legionary stamped tiles incorporating some two hundred different dies now admirably collated and listed in Roman Inscriptions of Britain. Dates have been tentatively suggested for a minority of these dies, but some of these are inconsistent with the other evidence. Inter alia, by using dating derived from the different forms of tegulae on which these stamps have been impressed, revised dating is proposed. Linking these dates with the distribution of the stamped tiles sheds new light on legionary practices and movements, particularly on Hadrian’s Wall and in post-Antonine Scotland, as well as the relationship between the legions and the auxiliary units. The multiplicity of different dies could be explained by each cohort having its own stamp and stamping every one of the tiles they produced, a practice that all the British legions seem to have followed. The discovery of legio XX stamped tiles referring to Viducius at a rural tile-works in Merseyside confirms him as a legionary contractor; close examination of tile sizes shows that contractors appear to have played a significant part in the production for at least two of the legions.

Exports of Italian wine to Gaul were in steep decline from c. 50 B.C. A quite different picture emerges from Britain where finds of the Italian Dressel I amphora peak at the very end of the form c. 10 B.C. The discrepancy between Gaul and Britain is explained by the export of commodities from Britain to supply the Roman army on the Rhine, and is the expression of a direct interest in the island by the Roman state. Afterwards, the number of wine amphoras reaching Britain declined sharply: in the 50 years before the Roman invasion the volume of amphora-borne wine imported by Britons fell by between two-thirds and three-quarters. This decline is apparent from both rich graves and settlement sites. The fall in the number of wine amphoras cannot be accounted for by the replacement of the amphora by the barrel as the standard commercial wine-container: we are dealing with a real decline in the volume of wine traded. In Gaul there was a similar slump in wine imports from Italy, and the same pattern is repeated in Mediterranean shipwrecks. It can be explained by growing demand for wine in Italy itself: wine that had hitherto been exported was now consumed in the peninsula.

This paper investigates how common intensive milling practices were in southern England during the Romano-British period, by analysing the distribution of millstones, based on an extensive corpus of almost 4,500 querns and millstones compiled by the author. In order to do this, it was necessary to establish criteria for distinguishing millstones from rotary querns, the details of which are set out in an accompanying appendix; this is something which has hitherto not been published. Using the guidelines thereby defined, the distribution of millstones is considered and described by stone type. The resulting data are then used to discuss the following key points: How frequently did mills occur? What types of mills were in use, and when? What were those mills used for?

Several of the principal sources of coarse pottery in Roman Britain have recently been subject to review. The extensive groups of kilns, largely in Cantley parish, 2 km south-east of Doncaster (FIG. I), have, however, tended to be neglected due to publication delays. Some attempt to remedy this situation is here provided.

In the course of a detailed geological examination of the natural stones which have been incorporated into the fabric, and particularly the external fabric, of ecclesiastical buildings in the area of the London Basin, the author has recorded the occurrence of Roman bricks and tiles. The geographical and historical distributions of a number of natural stones that occur within these fabrics have already been described by the author. The rocks of the London Basin are down-folded into a syncline, and the geographical limits of the area of the studies are approximately confined by the geological outcrop of the Upper Cretaceous, Chalk, as shown in FIG. I. These limits reflect a geological area in which natural building stones are not obviously available. None of the typical rocks of the region, customarily clays, sands, and gravels, are sufficiently consolidated, in normal circumstances, to be directly utilised for building purposes. The Romans and others, however, mastered the techniques necessary to convert clay into bricks and tiles, and this paper examines the current distribution, in re-use, of some of these Roman products in the churches of the region. Other re-used Roman materials were, of course, also utilised in church construction. Some of these, such as silcretes, calcareous concretions and travertine, have been reported elsewhere.

The villa at Bignor, West Sussex (SU 987147), is one of the largest and best-known in the province of Britain. First discovered in 1811 during ploughing, it was excavated by Samuel Lysons in annual campaigns until 1818. The plans and mosaics received sumptuous publication; but because of potential expense imposed by the recent Copyright Act which required deposition in various Libraries of 11 copies of any work containing letterpress, no accompanying text was printed. Instead, two papers were published in Archaeologia. These are somewhat summary in description and they contain measurements which are inconsistent both mutually and when compared with the plans. Recent work has added to the plan several walls which Lysons did not find, and has also shown that the well-known plan itself is inaccurate in showing the north and south sides of the courtyard as parallel (FIG. I). In fact they diverge. After cover-buildings had been erected over the principal mosaics and the rest reburied, matters rested for over a century. In 1925 S. E. Winbolt re-excavated and repaired the cold bath (in Room 55), which had been left open without a cover-building; and in 1929 the Venus mosaic (Room 3), whose condition had been deteriorating, was professionally relaid.

Excavations in 1972–75 on behalf of the Department of the Environment revealed an extensive Iron Age settlement and traces of widespread Roman agricultural and industrial activity at Wakerley, Northamptonshire (FIG. 2). The settlement was situated in Wakerley parish, immediately to the south of the road running between the villages of Wakerley and Harringworth and nine miles north-northeast of Corby (FIG. 3). It was sited on sloping ground, overlooking the valley of the River Welland, and some ½ mile from the river itself. From the site there are extensive views of the river valley to the north and west and of the hills and dales of Rutland that lie beyond. A deep natural gully occurs in the hillside, just to the west of the settlement and, as a result, the site is in an open position and fully exposed to the westerly winds. The settlement was located between the 250 and 300 ft. contours on a wide expanse of Lower Lincolnshire Limestone. Clays of the LowerEstuarine Series and outcrops of Northampton Sand and Ironstone occur on the lower slopes of the valley below the site and in the adjacent gully to the west. It is likely that a convenient supply of water would have been available in this gully in earlier periods, but this has been piped away in modern times.

An initial, superficial occupation (Period I, c. A.D. 43) of the site probably reflects a Roman military base of the Conquest period. The first formal layout (Period II, c. 44–50) included a main east-west street, north of which lay a metalled area and two wooden structures separated by a north-south road, again almost certainly part of a military base. A large scale Claudian redevelopment (Period III, c. 50–60) relaid both the east-west road and the metalled area. In the angle formed by these lay at least three large timber-framed buildings, on an east-west axis and probably consisting of ranges of rooms, at least one frontal verandah and two semi-basements; two of these buildings were divided from the third by a minor east-west road. The framed walls were infilled with wattle, daub or brick, over wooden sleeper-plates supported on trenched piles. The floors were of clay, some roofs tiled and many walls painted, one four times. Water was piped along the principal road. The layout, still reminiscent of military work, probably reflects the initiation of the civilian town east of the Walbrook which set the permanent street-pattern for the eastern half of the city. All the buildings on the site were destroyed by the Boudiccan fire of A.D. 60.

Since the first discovery of its remains in 1790, or rather since Samuel Lysons published his exceptionally fine reconstruction-drawing of it in 1802, the Temple of Sulis Minerva at Bath has remained outstanding among the monuments of Roman Britain that are known to have been built and decorated in the classical style. It has, however, proved difficult to establish its date. There are two available sources for this, in the absence of any inscription: the archaeological evidence, and the ornament of the temple's architecture. Cunliffe has summarized what little can be said of the former: although the precinct wall appears to post-date the wall of the reservoir of the baths, the temple itself may well have been built before its precinct was enclosed; since it is likely that the baths and the temple were planned together, the late first-century date indicated for the baths renders probable a first- or early second-century date for the other buildings. The arguments depend on circumstantial evidence. Unless excavations in the future produce more closely-datable archaeological material, it would seem that we are not on very strong ground here.

Most writers have seen the Car Dyke as a navigable Roman canal, connecting the fenlands of Cambridgeshire and Lincolnshire with the major Roman markets of Lincoln and York. Its course is shown on the Ordnance Survey Map of Roman Britain as running from Waterbeach on the Cam to Washingborough, a few miles below Lincoln, on the Witham, and many, following Stukeley, have seen it as supplying the northern markets with the agricultural produce of the Roman fenland. The importance of cereals in this trade has indeed been questioned, but the general theory has persisted.

In order to assess the validity of the theory, and to establish the purpose of the work and the date and method of its construction, the northern half of the Dyke, from the Witham to Bourne, a distance of about 36 miles (57-6 km), has been studied over a period of some 10 years. This paper summarizes the findings to date. It is, of course, realized that all the conclusions reached here do not necessarily apply equally to the southern end.

Excavations in Insulae II, III and XIII in the southern half of Verulamium demonstrated the absence of occupation prior to the late first century and the relatively late development of the street grid in this area. This forced a re-evaluation of the date of the 1955 ditch, suggesting it was not dug until the Flavian period. The excavations also demonstrated that Watling Street had never bisected Insula XIII on the south-eastern side of the Forum-Basilica, thus negating a major argument for the presence of a Claudian fort under the centre of the later town. A restricted excavation in the northern corner of Insula XIII revealed evidence for the location of the town’s baths, while excavation in Insula XIII revealed a long sequence of industrial and domestic occupation stretching from the late first to early fifth centuries. Evidence for continued occupation into the fifth century or beyond was recovered from Insula II, and to a lesser extent, in Insula XIII.

Hoards of denarii are common in Britain and the number which have been recorded in detail means that it is now possible to suggest reasonably accurately what a ‘normal’ hoard of a particular date should look like. That being the case, we can then look for variation around that norm and both investigate and speculate what that variation means. A methodology is developed which suggests periods of faster and less rapid coin circulation which has implications for consideration of monetisation. The model also enables us to view where denarii entered circulation; unsurprisingly the army looms large in this picture. The methodology is directly transferable to other provinces and other periods where there are long-lived, relatively stable monetary systems.

The extent to which the conquest of British tribes by Roman forces affected the native population may be properly assessed only when an accurate picture has been obtained of both the pre- and post-conquest periods. Too often this is not the case because the evidence for the earlier period tends to be scanty in comparison with the later, much of which is the result of a gradual increase in the output of durable artifacts which have stood the test of time: coins, pottery, metalwork, buildings. In recent years the evidence for rapid population growth and accompanying social changes has drawn greater attention to the existence of protourban societies in southern and eastern England. The present paper is a brief attempt to restate the case for Eastern Yorkshire, generally accepted as the home of the Parisi, and to examine the extent to which Iron Age society there was affected by incorporation into the Roman province.