The 2000 Season: Overview at Week 3.
By Amanda Clarke

The look of the site has changed dramatically over the last week of the excavation: nearly all the structural traces of Buildings 1 and 5 have been removed, along with the deposits associated with their construction. We are now revealing glimpses of an earlier – possibly 2nd century – brick building on the same alignment as our diagonal building, House 1, in the centre of the site. This brick building had at least one wall surviving to a height of approximately 0.4m, and has associated with it the remains of an opus signinum floor of classic crushed tile make-up.

There is also now the possibility of up to 3 wells pre-dating Building 1, all located in this south-east corner of the site. Elsewhere on site work has concentrated on the backyards of the street front buildings. It is now apparent that the street frontage along the east-west street consisted of several plots of land, the northern limits of which were marked by fence-lines or single walls, each maintained by and relating to a separate property.

Within each of these plots or parcels of land, rubbish pits and wells have been identified, and are in the process of excavation. The fills of these pits are being carefully excavated and sampled for environmental evidence. In the backyards on the southern part of the site, a pit containing the remains of at least two dogs has been identified, as well as the articulated skeleton of an as yet unidentified animal. Many of the rubbish pits in the process of excavation here are producing not only high quality finds, but also large quantities of animal bones, many with butchery and cut marks, suggesting slaughter of these animals on site.

The excavation of a pit containing an accumulation of bones

As well as a busy week archaeologically, last week also saw a visit by Julian Richards and the Meet the Ancestors film crew, who spent a day filming the excavations and talking to director Mike Fulford.

On Saturday 22nd July we held our first Open Day – over 400 visitors enjoyed a mix of site tours and finds displays, and were able to buy the first official Silchester excavations T-shirt, courtesy of the Friends of Silchester. They were able to visit our Visitors Hut and partake of tea or coffee.

Prof. Fulford giving a tour of the excavation

The main attraction for the children was a miniature excavation set up especially for them to try their hand at archaeology. They were able to try digging in a 'sandpit', washing finds (mostly Ceramic Building Material) and look through the level. The mosaic making was particularly popular.

Child surveying Visitor Anna making a mosaic Visitor surveying