The Festival of British Archaeology at Fishbourne Roman Palace

The Festival of British Archaeology at Fishbourne Roman 

Palace

This year will be my fourth consecutive year helping out at Fishbourne Roman Palace’s Festival of British Archaeology Event (FOBA), so I thought what better way to celebrate this then write about what makes this event so much fun to work on, and why I would urge anyone to come along!

The festival’s main selling point is the archaeological dig at the palace which anyone can join in. The excavation takes place on top of the spoil heaps at the site which are the two large mounds visible near the car park. The spoil heaps were chosen as the best area to excavate to help identify what was missed in the original excavations at the site. From the last four years of working on the spoil heaps, the excavations have shown that roof tile and oyster shells were very commonly ‘missed’ however some smaller finds were also missed as well.

Figure 1: Roman Tesserae found at Fishbourne’s FOBA event. Rare anywhere else in Britain, but if you have a good eye you are likely to find one here!

Over the past 4 years, as well as copious amounts of roof tile and oyster shell, I have seen people unearth building stone used in the palace (Very commonly), pottery and samian ware (quite commonly), Roman Tessearae (Also quite commonly), and animal bone and roman metalwork (A bit rarer). However my top finds from the past working there have to be one of the few Roman coins we have found in the spoil heaps, and my personal favourite which was 5 or 6 tesserae which were still mortared together, a chunk of a now lost mosaic.

As well as having the a large amount of finds, another positive of excavating the spoil heaps is that there is no ‘stratigraphy’ or contexts to record, meaning any levels of experience can come and have a go at digging without worrying about going through anything too important!

The excavation aspect of FOBA can go on for as long or little time as you want, however other activities are available at the site as well. Previous activities have included practicing archaeological drawing (See figure 2), using archaeological equipment such as dumpy levels (See figure 3) and geophysics and finally washing and recording your finds to take to an expert to identify!

Figure 2: Our planning grid/archaeological drawing activity at FOBA.

Figure 3: Our survey equipment/dumpy level activity at FOBA.

Although I can’t say for sure what activities will be available this year, I have been promised that the excavation is going to go ahead and will be one of the biggest yet. So if you fancy a day out excavating one of the most famous archaeological sites in Britain, this is a great opportunity to do so, and have a fun family day out at the same time!

I will be there every day that is not a Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday. So if you are around one of the days I am there and find something exciting (Preferably bone), remember to bring it to me first!

Fishbourne Roman Palace’s Festival of British Archaeology Event Runs from the 19 – 29^th July. The event is free to all paying visitors to the museum, however there is a suggested donation of £1 per digger to help pay for all the equipment etc that is used by the event.

Exploring the Past #1: The Rural Settlement of Roman Britain: An Online Resource

           
Exploring the Past #1: The Rural Settlement of Roman Britain: An Online Resource

    One of the most useful resources for archaeologist and researchers are online databases, which can hold a large amount of information on a large variety subjects. There are a number of these databases available in archaeology, however a large majority of archaeological material is still difficult to get hold of, and is rarely in a digital format. However following a guest lecture from Martyn Allen of Reading University, I discovered another brilliant resource, which I believe will be one of the main resources for anyone studying Roman Britain in the future; The Rural Settlement of Roman Britain Project.

                The lecture focused on what research could be achieved from the system that was developed, such as differentiation between settlement patterns, however what interested me was the vast potential for future research that could be done using the database. The project has created a database of all the ‘grey literature’ e.g. excavation reports and dating evidence for Roman Sites in England and has digitised and mapped them. Not only have they achieved this, but they have also divided the Roman sites into a number of site types e.g. complex farmsteads and funerary sites. This has culminated into a searchable online database, capable of running queries on fields such as site types or locations, and a browsable map of all Rural Roman sites in England,, and probably most significantly, this is only its first phase.

Figure 1: Map of the area surrounding modern day Chichester, showing the sites recorded on the projects database.

                I have already used the database to look at the area which I am currently researching, the area occupied by the Iron Age tribe, the Regini. I was presented with the map shown in figure 1, which shows a variety of symbols, depicting different site types, and even Roman place names and roads. Once on the map, you can then select any of the symbols for further information. The page will provide basic information such as date and site type, and it also allows you to drill down into the information deeper, if further information is needed. The database provides information such as a summary, location (Easting and Northings), further sources and other site specific information.

This project is a great step forward in making the archaeological records more accessible for all. The map function allows you to easily browse Roman Rural settlements in your area, and quickly access further information and dating of sites to be used in research. However one of the most exciting things about the project is that it is only in its first phase. By December 2015 Wales will be added to the database, and by the 1^st April 2017, finds and environmental data will be available for the sites on the database as well. The addition of finds and environmental evidence coupled with the settlement evidence already on the site, will allow a full range of data to be explored by the public and professionals in depth for the first time.

The Regini: The Lost Tribe of the Iron Age

The Regini: The Lost Tribe of the Iron Age

The Late Iron Age (100 BC – 43 AD) is often characterised by a set of ‘Tribes’, which ruled over certain areas of Britain before the Roman Invasion. Ever since Ptolemy’s Geography named the tribes in Late Iron Age Britain, the view of the tribes present has not seen many changes, with most modern volumes on the subject showing similarities to Ptolemy’s interpretation of the tribes of Britain.

Figure 1: Interpretation of Ptolomy’s Map Of Britain. Compared to Modern Interpretations of Late Iron Age Britain.                 A tribe that was not mentioned in Ptolemy’s Geography and is therefore often overlooked is the Regini. Currently little is known about the tribe known as the Regini, and little work has been done trying to define the tribe’s territory and culture.                 The existence of the tribe is known from the city of Chichester. In the Roman Period Chichester was a ‘Civitas’ Capital, meaning a minor capital city in control of a small tribal area. As shown on the maps in Figure 1, the tribe usually believed to have been occupying Chichester is the Atrebates, however I believe that through looking at the name of the city, it can be interpreted that the Regini were the tribe in control of the area instead. Chichester’s Roman name was ‘Noviomagus Reginorum’. It is widely agreed that the ‘Noviomagus’ section translates as ‘New Market’, however the ’Reginorum’ aspect has often been debated. Historically ‘Reginorum’ was seen to translate to something to do with the word ‘Kingdom’ for example ‘The People of the Kingdom’. However when compared to other capitals it becomes clear that it means something different. The tribal capital of the Durotriges tribe of Dorset (Dorchester) is known as ‘Durotrigium’, which translates as the land of the Duro(triges). This pattern is also seen in other local capitals such as Atrebatum (Silchester), which is in the Atrebates territory and Belgarum (Winchester) which is in the territory of the Belgae tribe. When applied to Chichester, the same interpretation shows that the town’s name, Reginorum, actually should be interpreted as ‘New Market, Land of the Regini’. Unfortunately there is little other written evidence for the Regini tribe, so it is hard to distinguish an exact territory or material culture. Furthermore there is little archaeological evidence for the Late Iron Age in the area, except for the large entrenchments to the north of Chichester, known as the Chichester Dykes (See Figure 2). Figure 2: Line of the Chichester Dykes.                The Chichester Dykes possibly could show the Regini tribe marking their territory on a major scale, however a large Late Iron Age settlement is yet to be found in the area. The Regini are a tribe that has always interested me, and hopefully more will be understood about the tribe as more research in the area takes place. For example, the site of Westward House shows potential to be related to the tribe, however the work on the site is still on going.                 Although there is still information about the tribe out there, which I will be exploring in future blogs. The interpretation of the small amount of archaeological information for this period and possible links to historical sources show an opportunity to understand more about this forgotten tribe. I believe that it is likely that there are a large number of smaller tribes across Britain that were have been forgotten in recent work on the Late Iron Age. The re-analysis of the interpretation of Chichester’s Latin Name has allowed a smaller tribe to be named, changing the usual interpretation of the Late Iron Age tribes in Britain for the first time since Ptolemy's Geography in the 2nd Century AD. Figure 3: The Iron Age tribes of Southern and Central Britain, showing the proposed position of the Regni or Regini tribe. Bibliography/Further Reading Manley, J., ed. 2008. The Archaeology of Fishbourne and Chichester A Framework for its Future. Lewis: The Sussex Archaeology Society. Russell, M., 2006. Roman Sussex. Gloucestershire: Tempus Publishing Ltd. Russell, M., 2010. Bloodline. Gloucestershire: Amberley Publishing Ltd.