Undergraduate Training Excavation

The Department of Archaeology runs a training excavation for its students every summer at the Roman town site of Silchester (Calleva Atrebatumn) in conjunction with the Field School. Silchester is located in the north of Hampshire, roughly midway between the modern towns of Basingstoke and Reading.

If you choose to study archaeology at Reading you will automatically be allocated a place on this excavation in the long vacation at the end of your first year. The excavation normally runs between the beginning of July and the middle of August: all single honours archaeology students are expected to attend for four weeks and all joint honours students for two. As a training excavation it provides students with an experience of field archaeology in which a basic knowledge of archaeological field techniques and site recording methods will be acquired. It should also be fun!

The University of Reading places field excavation high on its list of priorities for students reading archaeology. The Department of Archaeology recognises that excavation is basic to every aspect of archaeological study, and that all archaeologists, whether working in museums, on research, in education or public presentation of our heritage, should have participated in the process of gathering, recording and interpreting archaeological evidence on site.

Students will put into practice the theory and methods of archaeology introduced in their first year at Reading. During the training excavation you will attain basic surveying skills, learn how to sort and categorise artefacts and ecofacts, participate in an environmental sampling programme and learn to work as part of a team. You will take responsibility for the excavation and recording of your own area, under the guidance of a site supervisor, so that you can work towards a critical and objective analysis of your data and their interpretation and thereby participate fully in the working life of this large excavation.

The project is also open to applicants who are not students at the University of Reading. Read about the Silchester field school.