Britannia 19

Publishes a substantial quantity of shell-tempered wares, some comparable with the Dragonby Iron Age assemblage, found with early Roman types (including S Gaulish samian) at 181-3 High Street, near Brayford Pool. Structural evidence was indeterminate: native settlement/canabae? West of the fortress the Lawn Hospital site yielded mainly handmade sand-tempered wares of 1st century native type suggestive of a native settlement but without proof. Jeffrey May considers the topographical and settlement evidence for the Lincoln area in the Iron Age.

The discovery of the SW corner of an ashlar structure helps define the line of Hadrian's Wall W of the city centre. The milecastle type is unknown; and it was dismantled in ?2nd century. Pollen analysis indicated woodland and grassland, no arable. F B/Ed

Partly-excavated villa, in use 3rd 4th century, contained (first phase) a geometric mosaic, mainly in dark grey and white, possibly of 2nd century. C M H

One of the best-preserved buildings of Roman Britain, excavated in 1970-5, this was originally a simple four-room structure (undated) set into the edge of a large slag bank. It lay near an extensive (8ha) ironmaking settlement (late 1st to 3rd century) which was probably under the administration of the Classis Britannica. After a possible period of disuse it was reconstructed and extended by a civilian official but abandoned shortly afterwards (apart from a brief squatter occupation) and buried by slippage of the waste-heap. A large wooden tank, formerly lead-lined, appears to pre-date the bath-house. The slag bank was also investigated. Finds include two intaglii, an inscription, shoes, and a Dea Nutrix figurine head. F B

Bannaventa, an Antonine Itinerary site, is an irregular triple-ditched quadrilateral enclosure. The defences of later 2nd century AD appear to have been replaced, no earlier than late 3rd, by two outer ditches and a ?town wall. The rampart overlay an early 2nd century round house. There are timber buildings with painted plaster, but no stone structures have been found. Extramural features may represent the beginnings of the settlement. F B/Ed

Argues that the written word carried by couriers would be a more probable means of communication than the often suggested hypothetical systems of beacons, torches, etc for signalling. F B

Re-examination of the Gallic Chronicles of 452 and 511 demonstrates the essential reliability of the system of regnal years, so that the entries concerning Saxon invasions in AD 410 and 441 can be seen as correct. C M H

Some 87% of Berkshire field boundaries examined are of RB origin. This indicates intensive cultivation of the downlands in the RB period and undermines assumptions about the prehistoric origin and continuity of use of field-systems. F B

Post-holes observed in 1985 above the inner ditch of the Claudian camp add weight to the argument that the font occupied a fixed position within a baptistry. F B

Short reports on numerous sites and inscriptions. F B