VIΛNOVΛ

Feeling inspired after last Friday’s talk and community event at St Cadoc’s church in Caerleon!!

The talk described the published results of the excavation of a large courtyard storage building in Priory Field I co-directed with Andrew Gardner in 2008 and 2010 (following an evaluation season in 2007). Combining stratigraphy, finds and archaeological science, the dig tells the fascinating story of the store building and the Roman soldiers who used it. We exposed some 2/3rds of the building’s front range, revealing when it was constructed, what it was for, when it ceased to be used, and what happened to it during and after the later Roman period.

Last week’s event was jointly organised and arranged by the Monmouthshire Antiquarian Association and the Roman Caerleon Gateway Partnership Project. The newly refurbished St Cadoc’s is a wonderful venue for this kind of community event, which was a really nice and positive way to end a dark and wet January week.

It was very popular indeed – 200 people attended in person with 150 following online – and everyone seemed to enjoy hearing about the wonders of Roman Caerleon!

Jeremy Knight, President of the MAA, opened the event, after which Peter gave a presentation about the Priory Field dig and some of the amazing things we found, before Dai Price from Amgueddfa Cymru – Museum Wales and the Caerleon Advocates explained what the new collaborative Roman Caerleon Gateway Partnership Project is about and what they hope to achieve.

A video of the talks is available on YouTube – click here.

👉 Jeremy’s introduction starts at 10:00 mins (after some soothing choral music and housekeeping announcements)
👉 You’ll find Peter’s talk – DIGGING ROMAN CAERLEON: THE PRIORY FIELD EXCAVATION – from 24:20 to 1:05:20, followed by questions from the audience
👉 Finally, Dai’s and the Advocates’ presentation about the Roman Caerleon Gateway Partnership Project starts at 1:22:10

The excavation report – ‘Excavations in the Roman Legionary Fortress at Caerleon: The Priory Field Store Building’ – is available from Archaeopress as a hard-copy book as well as an Open Access eBook.

January 2026

Are you interested in the Romans? Do you like Roman coins?

If your answers to these questions are “Yes – obviously!” (and let’s face it, who isn’t and who doesn’t??), then we might have an early Christmas present for you, because … next month Peter Guest starts a 5-week online course for the Hellenic and Roman Societies called ‘ROMAN COINAGE IN BRITAIN’!

It’s an informal course (no revision or exams!), that will be a

wide-ranging and informative survey of what coins can tell us about ancient Rome and Roman Britain. Coins will feature front and centre, and the course will be a cocktail of numismatics with a dash of history and a twist of archaeology as and when needed.

The 5 weekly sessions will look at the following topics and themes:
⭐ Coinage and Currency in ancient Rome.
⭐ The Age of Silver: Claudius to Carausius.
⭐ Rome’s single currency: Diocletian to Honorius.
⭐ The Use of Roman Coinage in Britain.
⭐ The hoarding of coins in Roman Britain.

The course starts on Wednesday 17 September at 6pm UK time, and each session lasts 90 minutes (including questions).

Click here for course info and details, including how to book.

August 2025

Lovely to see Wroxeter Farm in the latest issue of Current Archaeology – and on the cover too!

Wroxeter is the site of the Roman city of Viroconium Cornovorium and this was an evaluation excavation designed to answer some fairly straightforward questions about this part of the city’s centre: e.g. how deep the archaeological remains lie below the modern ground surface and how well they survive; to provide dating for the buildings and other structures; and, if possible, to obtain some indication of what they were for and how they had been used.

Happily, our trenches confirmed that the archaeological remains survive remarkably well (often only a few centimetres below the ground), and that there is very little evidence for post-Roman activity in this part of the city, which means the Roman-period remains are, for the most part, intact and largely undisturbed.

We didn’t expect the Roman remains to be so well preserved or that much of what we uncovered would turn out to date to the earliest chapters of the Roman city’s history, including:
⭐ a monumental roadside-building on the decumanus opposite the forum-basilica
⭐ an extensive enclosed space that seems to have been empty except for a single small masonry building, probably a shrine or perhaps a funerary monument
⭐ a bath-suite associated with a large townhouse (one room of which had a beautiful figurative mosaic floor decorated with dolphins and fish)
⭐ hints of possible votive activity

The mosaic was completely unexpected and a very nice surprise!

It’s the first figurative mosaic found at Wroxeter and its style suggests it could have been laid in the later 1st or 2nd centuries. It probably decorated the floor of an antechamber in the bath-suite – hence the the aquatic theme – and the quality of the mosaic and the building’s architecture, together with the townhouse’s city-centre location, all indicate this must have been the residence of someone of the highest status, who may have well lived there during the first decades after the city’s foundation in the early 2nd century.

The Wroxeter Farm project was a training excavation and we worked alongside student archaeologists and volunteers from Cardiff University / Prifysgol Caerdydd as well as English Heritage members and staff.

The project’s Post-Excavation Assessment stage has been completed a you can find out what we found on the new Wroxeter Farm webpage (including the Assessment Report).

July 2025

Caerleon Priory Field excavation report published 

Very proud – and relieved – to announce that the Priory Field excavation report is published! 🥂

It’s available from Archaeopress as a hard-copy book (£50) as well as an Open Access eBook.

The report describes the results of the excavation of a large courtyard storage building Peter co-directed with Andrew Gardner in 2008 and 2010 (following an evaluation season in 2007). Combining stratigraphy, finds and archaeological science, it tells the fascinating story of the store building and the people who used it. The excavation exposed some 2/3rds of its front range, revealing when the building was constructed, what it was for, when it ceased to be used, and what happened to it during and after the later Roman period.

The report is the culmination of 12 years hard work on the part of 100s of field archaeologists, conservators, archaeological scientists, finds specialists, illustrators, photographers and many others who contributed in all sorts of ways, small and large, to the Priory Field excavation over the years. It includes contributions from a stellar cast of specialists who helped us explore a range of important topics and themes to do with Roman Caerleon, the Roman legion, and Roman Britain more generally:

• Architecture of legionary store buildings
• Military equipment
  
• Food and food systems
  
• ‘Post-Roman’ reoccupation of Roman sites

The trench generated a very large finds assemblage, including over 1,800 registered finds, 2,800 nails, 5,000 sherds of pottery, 110 kg of animal bone and almost 6 tonnes of broken roof tiles and bricks. These finds tell us what the store looked like, what was kept there and who might have used it.

The coins and pottery provide the chronological sequence for the store, which was erected around AD 90-100 and remained in use until c. 300, after which it was partially demolished and levelled by c. 350. Two new buildings were constructed among the ruins of the demolished building, including a cottage-like building that radiocarbon dating demonstrates was in use probably in the decades around 500.

The Priory Field excavation and its report represent a number of significant ‘firsts’:

• 1st legionary store building excavated to modern standards in the Roman Empire!
• 1st evidence for a Roman-style building from the ‘post-Roman’ 5th/6th centuries at a Roman site in Britain!
• 1st publication of a major Caerleon excavation in the 21st century!
• 1st time an excavation trench at Caerleon had been positioned to answer specific research questions about the interior of the fortress!
• 1st archaeological excavation in Caerleon organised and led by a university-based team!
• 1st excavation in Caerleon that was open to the public!

The Priory Field excavation was undertaken on behalf of Cadw Welsh Historic Monuments, Cardiff University / Prifysgol Caerdydd and UCL.

June 2025

Updated Toolkit for Finds Reporting: Roman Coinage

Very pleased that the updated TOOLKIT FOR FINDS REPORTING: ROMAN COINAGE is now live!

This is the first time an open-access resource like the Roman Coinage Toolkit has been developed for an archaeological artefact in the UK and, as is often the case with new or innovative endeavours, it took a couple of attempts to get it right.

Click here for CIfA’s announcement about the update project and to access the Toolkit.

Thanks to Historic England‘s continued support, the updated Toolkit is more intuitive and user-friendly with new features to guide and assist specialists identificating and recording Roman coins from archaeological excavations:

• a short introductory video that provides an overview of the Toolkit’s resources and how to use them
• downloadable pdf document containing all of the Toolkit’s guidance
• new FAQ section

The Toolkit facilitates the standardised and consistent recording of Roman coin identifications, and their archiving in an easily accesible format. We were guided by the excellent FAIR Principles for scientific data management and stewardship (Findability, Accessibility, Interoperability, and Reuse of digital assets), and the Toolkit should make finding and analysing excavated Roman coin assemblages from the UK much simpler in the future than it has been in the past.

The Toolkit’s key resource is the ‘Roman Coin Recording Template’, which is a downloadable Microsoft Excel workbook where details of Roman coins’ identifications can be entered and saved. Dropdown lists containing standardised listings of entries are provided for the key elements of a Roman coin’s identification – Denomination, Emperor (or Issuer) and Mint – which also link to the international system of standard ‘Numismatic Identifiers’ developed by Nomisma.org).

It’s now even easier to save and archive the Template in a format compatible with the Archaeology Data Service‘s accepted file formats, and the coversheet is pre-populated with most of the file-level metadata required by the ADS to archive and disseminate data.

May 2025

Major Roman Frontiers Research Project Announced

Absolutely delighted to be involved in one of the UK’s 38 successful European Research Council (ERC) 2024 Consolidator Grant applications!

‘Feeding the Roman Army: Making the Empire’ (FRAME) is a Cardiff University project led by Prof. Richard Madgwick that will look at how the Roman army managed to feed itself, the impacts military garrisons had on the landscapes and peoples of frontier provinces and, ultimately, the reasons for Roman imperialism’s remarkable longevity and resilience.

FRAME is highly innovative and collaborative, combining cutting-edge science with archaeology and history. The integration of science and the humanities is one of the project’s most notable features – both disciplines need to work together if FRAME is to provide the evidence with which we can answer its many questions.

FRAME is one of the most ambitious Roman research projects of recent decades, bringing together multi-isotope analysis (MIA) of animal bones and cereals, organic residue analysis (ORA), as well as more traditional zooarchaeological and artefact studies. The project’s international, multi-scalar and interdisciplinary methodology will allow us to examine Roman soldiers’ diet(s), where the army’s food came from and how it was produced, as well as the logistics of Roman imperialism.

FRAME in numbers:
⭐ 5 frontier regions from the North to Black Seas
⭐ 21 sites (military and rural) in 6 countries (UK, NL, CH, A, SRB and RO)
⭐ 750+ faunal MIA samples
⭐ 330+ botanical MIA samples (delivered by project partner Amy Styring at the University of Oxford)
⭐ 250 ORA samples (delivered by project partner Lucy Cramp at the University of Bristol)
⭐ 5 years, 4 staff, 2 partners, dozens of international collaborators, €2M

Peter Guest will be the PM and the project’s Roman archaeologist, and will support Richard and the team to successfully deliver FRAME’s outcomes. FRAME will be a game-changing project. We start in September next year and you can find out more about FRAME here.

December 2024

STUNNING NEW DISCOVERIES AT WROXETER ROMAN CITY

“An Aquarium Frozen in Stone”

Recent archaeological excavation in Shropshire has revealed remarkable evidence for town life in Roman Britain almost 2,000 years ago, including part of an unusual decorated mosaic, a possible shrine or mausoleum, a monumental roadside civic building, and tantalising hints of a nearby temple. Located in the heart of the Roman city at Wroxeter, the excavation trenches investigated an unexplored part of the site where the Roman-period remains lie almost completely undisturbed below the ground.

Wroxeter was the site of a legionary fortress before being founded as a city towards the end of the 1st century. Known to the Romans as Viroconium Cornoviorum, Wroxeter was the fourth largest city in Roman Britain, extending to almost 80 hectares within its walls and with an estimated population of some 15,000 people.

Recent archaeological excavation in Shropshire has revealed remarkable evidence for town life in Roman Britain almost 2,000 years ago, including part of an unusual decorated mosaic, a possible shrine or mausoleum, a monumental roadside civic building, and tantalising hints of a nearby temple. Located in the heart of the Roman city at Wroxeter, the excavation trenches investigated an unexplored part of the site where the Roman-period remains lie almost completely undisturbed below the ground.

Wroxeter was the site of a legionary fortress before being founded as a city towards the end of the 1st century. Known to the Romans as Viroconium Cornoviorum, Wroxeter was the fourth largest city in Roman Britain, extending to almost 80 hectares within its walls and with an estimated population of some 15,000 people.

The shrine or mausoleum was a small square stone-built structure with a central chamber. Originally it could have stood several storeys high and its external walls were covered with painted plaster, some of which was still in place, which means it would have been seen from miles around. If it was a mausoleum, its chamber must have held the remains of an important individual in Wroxeter’s earliest history – possibly someone associated with the earlier legionary fortress or perhaps a founding father of the new city.

The roadside public building ran along one of Wroxeter’s main streets opposite the city’s forum-basilica (marketplace and city hall). It was only 8m wide but at least 50m long.

Buttresses reinforced the building’s massive rear wall, which could have stood to several storeys, while its interior was also decorated with painted plaster and its floor had been raised in height on at least one occasion.

It is thought that the block where the excavation took place was the location of the city’s main public temple. No direct evidence for a temple was found, but a number of complete and broken pottery vessels from this part of the site might be evidence for worshippers’ offerings to whichever god or gods were venerated nearby.

Funding was provided by Dr Mike Watts and Jolanda Watts, Cardiff University and the John Pagett Memorial Trust. Historic England conducted geophysical surveys of Wroxeter Farm in advance of the excavation.

Aerial photography and photogrammetry were undertaken by Dr Paul Belford of Heritage Innovation, an international cultural heritage consultancy based in Shropshire. Click here to watch a short YouTube video about the Wroxeter Farm excavation project, and here to see a selection of Paul’s 3D models of the excavation trenches.

Dr Peter Guest (Vianova Archaeology), Project Manager and Co-Director said: “This was a fantastic project to be part of and it was a privilege to be invited by English Heritage to excavate at such an iconic site as Wroxeter. What we found this season surpassed all our expectations – no-one would have thought that Wroxeter’s Roman remains survive so amazingly well here, or that we should see phenomenal archaeology in each of our trenches. The mosaic is a truly lovely thing and it was a joy to watch it being uncovered and cleaned – like looking at a 2,000 year-old aquarium frozen in stone! The shrine or mausoleum is another very special find because it would seem to date from the earliest chapters in Wroxeter’s history as a Roman site, perhaps from the decades when it was a military base from which the conquest of the Celtic tribes in modern Wales was launched. We achieved great things this season, all of which is testament to the dedication and hard-work of our small team who lived and worked on site for 4 weeks, including professional archaeologists from Albion Archaeology and student archaeologists and volunteers from Cardiff University. We are very fortunate to have dug at Wroxeter – every day produced wonderful new discoveries and the excitement in the trenches was palpable. It was also great that so many members of the public were able to visit the excavation and see what we were up to this summer.”

Dr Roger White (University of Birmingham), Co-Director said: “Having spent many years excavating and studying Wroxeter Roman City, and its later history, it was enormously exciting to be involved in making such major new discoveries. We have long suspected that a major public building was located here and while we have now confirmed that this is the case, the building is in some respects puzzling to understand. This is not so surprising given how large this building seems to have been, but the new knowledge is startling evidence for the wealth and confidence of the founders of the city. This confidence is breathtakingly emphasised by the extraordinary survival of a multi-coloured mosaic and substantial surviving frescoed walls built in the first few decades of the city’s existence. It is extremely rare to find both a mosaic and its associated wall plaster, and nothing like it has ever been found at Wroxeter before. Importantly, the site also offers scientific opportunities to understand how the Roman city became productive farmland for more than 1500 years following its demise in the fifth century. This part of the former city was never ploughed in modern times and our research into evidence for ancient ploughing may offer insights into the future evolution of the soil in the light of climate change.”

Mike Luke (Albion Archaeology), Co-Director said: “Albion Archaeology was delighted to be a partner in such a successful and important project. While our core area of work is in the east Midlands, I worked at Wroxeter with Roger White on the 1980s excavations so it was wonderful to be invited back. Albion Archaeology provided highly skilled and experienced archaeologists to supervise the fieldwork, training and inspiring students who will become the next generation of archaeologists. It was also a pleasure to work with a range of volunteers from English Heritage whose new experiences will build on their existing knowledge and passion for archaeology. Albion Archaeology also contributed a range of technical services which means that the fieldwork and post-fieldwork tasks will be undertaken to the highest professional standards. Partnerships between commercial archaeological organisations like Albion Archaeology and research/training excavations are surprisingly rare in Britain, but the benefits of such ventures are huge for all partners and participants.”

Win Scutt, Senior Properties Curator at English Heritage, said: “What a discovery! Although much of Wroxeter is unexcavated, geophysical surveys have helped us understand the layout of the city and we were aware that to the north of the forum there was another large civic building, almost certainly the main civic temple, buried underground. Our excavations were in hope of discovering the walls of this building, but we never suspected we would find a beautiful and intact mosaic, which had lain hidden for thousands of years. This discovery, alongside a large number of small finds such as coins, will go a long way in helping us to date the various phases of the city and indicate the kinds of activities that were taking place. It’s always an astonishing moment when you uncover a fragment of beauty hiding just below the ground.”

August 2024

Very rare Roman coins identified!

Two highly unusual coins of Carausius were unearthed during recent excavations in Suffolk by Pre-Construct Archaeology.

Carausius was a usurper who ruled in Britain and northern Gaul from 286 to 293. His coinage was remarkable – full of sophisticated propaganda that portrayed him as an equal to the official emperors (Diocletian and Maximian), and the upholder of good old-fashioned Roman values.

Unusually, the 2 new coins did not appear in any of the published catalogues of Carausian coinage and the combination of obverses and reverses didn’t make sense. Their obverses bear the emperor’s helmeted radiate bust facing left with spear and shield and the legend IMP CARAVSI-VS AVG (‘The Emperor Carausius Augustus’). The helmeted obverse bust was modelled on a type issued during the reign of Probus (276-282) and, although it is known for Carausius, it was not common.

The coins’ reverses are also derived from coins of Probus, but only from gold aurei struck at Rome and Siscia. It shows the emperor standing to the left holding a spear and addressing two supplicants on either side, two of whom are standing and two of whom are kneeling, within the legend PACAT ORBIS (loosely, ‘Peace-bringer to the world’). Even more unusual are the coins’ mint marks – both //oXXVL – which was not known for Carausius at all.

This type of Carausian radiate is not recorded in the relevant volume of Roman Imperial Coinage (published in 1933) and there is no mention of it in the Online Coins of the Roman Empire corpus either. However, it turns out that 2 other coins of this type (and mint mark) have been recorded since 1933 – 1 in a hoard published in 1940 and the 2nd in a sales catalogue from 2007. The 2 Suffolk coins will be included in the new edition of Roman Imperial Coinage Vol. V.5 when its published in the not-too-distant future!

What 2 of the 4 known coins of this type were doing at a rural settlement in eastern England among 596 other Roman coins remains something of a mystery … for the time being …

May 2024

Conference session

Thoroughly enjoyed chairing the ‘Roman Britain’ session at the Roman Archaeology Conference / Theoretical Roman Archaeology Conference hosted by UCL.

8 fascinating presentations highlighting the significant contributions of commercial and independent archaeological organisations to the study of Britannia:

• “Re-Investigating Richborough: Correcting the narrative”, by Philip Smither (The Portable Antiquities Scheme)
• “Trouble Up North: Reassessing the evidence from Ambleside fort”, by John Reid (Trimontium Trust) and Manuel Fernández-Götz (The University of Edinburgh)
• “Two richly furnished early 2^nd-century cremation burials from Carlisle and their Continental parallels”, by Matthew Hobson (Wardell Armstrong)
• “Challenging the ‘Received Wisdom’ at Caistor Roman Town”, by Natasha Harlow (Caistor Roman Project)
• “Urbanism in Roman Wales: A new look at Roman Carmarthen”, by Sian Thomas (Archaeology Wales)
• “The Roman Villa at Llanwern: New perspectives on the Gwent Levels”, by Andrew Pearson (Cotswold Archaeology)
• “Dolaucothi – Applications of digital technology to investigate ancient technology”, by Edward Taylor (National Trust)
• “The Teynham Triton: The sculpture and excavations of a mausoleum and cemetery”, by Richard Helm (Canterbury Archaeological Trust), Richard Hobbs (The British Museum) and Robert Masefield (RPS Consulting)

April 2024

New Publication

‘Feeding The Roman Army in Britain’ is in Antiquity!

Read / download the Open Access article at: https://doi.org/10.15184/aqy.2023.110.

August 2023

Excavation – research, training and engagement

Lovely to be back in Hinton St Mary with our commercial partners Albion Archaeology once again!

This is the 3rd and final excavation season of The British Museum’s research project to find out more about the famous Roman mosaic discovered here exactly 60 years ago, and the mysterious ‘villa’ to which it apparently belonged.

This is also a training excavation and we’re pleased to welcome undergraduate archaeologists from Cardiff University again, as well as several early-career archaeologists helping out as volunteers.

Pupils from Yewstock School in Sturminster Newton will also come and visit the dig to see what the archaeologists are up to and help us reveal Hinton’s Roman past.

We are holding 2 open events in the afternoons on Sunday 9 July and Sunday 16 July for people to visit the excavation – gate opens at 2pm (just down the road from The Forge on Marnhull Road, but please park in the village rather than on the main road!).

More info about the Hinton mosaic as well as previous work at the site can be found here.

June 2023

New publication

We are delighted to announce that Peter’s new book, ‘The Roman Frontiers in Wales’ is now published!

It tells the story of the conquest and subjugation of the native tribes by the Roman army, as well as their subsequent annexation and integration into the administrative structures and economic networks of Roman Britain. The book has 2 parts – it opens with a summary of the Frontiers of the Roman Empire by Prof. David Breeze, followed by the wide-ranging overview of the historical and archaeological evidence for the Roman army’s presence in Wales.

Themes covered include:

• Nature of the Roman Frontiers in Wales
• History of Research in Wales
• The Roman Invasion of Britain
• The Native Tribes of Prehistoric Wales
• The Conquest and Pacification of Wales
• The Roman Frontiers in Wales
• Later History of Roman Wales
• The Legacy of Rome

Roman Frontiers in Wales is published in the ‘Frontiers of the Roman Empire’ series (edited by Prof. Breeze), which now includes 20 multi-lingual books covering almost all of the 4,600 miles of the imperial frontiers.

Roman Frontiers in Wales is available from Archaeopress as a paperback (£14.99), or an Open Access eBook.

September 2022

Excavation – research, training and engagement

Really great to be back at Hinton St Mary! We’re here on behalf of The British Museum with our commercial partners Albion Archaeology to find out more about the fabulous mosaic discovered here almost 60 years ago (currently in the BM), and the mysterious Romano-British ‘villa’ to which it apparently belonged.

This is also a training excavation and once again we’re pleased to welcome undergraduate archaeologists from Cardiff University / Prifysgol Caerdydd, as well as several volunteers from last year’s evaluation.

Hinton St Mary is the home of the Pitt Rivers family and the gates of the Manor carry the initials of one of modern archaeology’s most famous, and important, innovators – Augustus Henry Pitt Rivers. Many thanks to the Hinton St Mary Estate for making us so welcome and also to the lovely landowner and fine artist, Katie Scorgie, for allowing us to dig up her garden (again).

More information about the Hinton mosaic as well as previous work at the site can be found here.

June 2022

New publication

We are very pleased to announce that the long-awaited article describing the history and architecture of the forum-basilica at Caerwent is published!

It’ll appear in the 2022 issue of the journal Britannia, but it’s now available as an Open Access article (with thanks to my old friends at Barbican Research Associates for making this happen).

Caerwent is the site of the Roman city of Venta Silurum (‘Market of the Silures’) and the forum-basilica was its main public building, the equivalent of a ‘town hall’ today. It was where the city’s administrative, judicial, commercial and religious functions were located, and the article describes the results of the important excavations carried out by the National Museum of Wales between 1987 and 1995.

It recounts the history of this public building, but it also tells the remarkable story of the fortunes of the British tribe known as the Silures following a 30-year war against the Roman invaders. After their final defeat in the later 70s, the Silures would suffer another 40 years or so of occupation by 1000s of Roman soldiers before the authorities decided that they should be granted the same rights and privileges as other tribes in the province of Britannia.

This led to the creation of the Civitas Silurum, an administrative area (civitas) similar to today’s county, when the tribe was allowed a limited degree of self-autonomy. Venta Silurum was founded as the ‘capital city’ of the new civitas and it was not just the ‘Market of the Silures’, but also the seat of local government for much of Roman south Wales.

March 2022

New page launched about the collaborative research and training project at Hinton St Mary! Evaluation excavations in 2021 explored the local context of the famous Hinton St Mary mosaic (which might, or might not, show Jesus Christ). Find out more about the mosaic, previous archaeological work at the site, as well as the surprsing results of the evaluation.

January 2022

Book commission

We are very pleased to announce that we have been commissioned to write The Roman Frontier in Wales in the international Frontiers of the Roman Empire series. This book will describe the history and archaeology of the Roman army’s efforts to subdue and pacify the native tribes in Wales, from the initial pursuit of the fugitive British leader Caratacus, to the final campaigns of conquest 30 years later and the subsequent occupation of the country by some 25,000 soldiers. Roman Frontier in Wales will be an illustrated and up-to-date account of the Roman army’s conquest of Wales that will appeal to archaeologists, historians, students and the general public. The book will be published by Archaeopress in English and Welsh, and will be available in hard copy as well as a free ebook.

Prof. David Breeze and Dr Jon Berry from Cadw will be providing advice and guidance, and we are grateful to Richard Beleson and the Senhouse Museum Trust, Maryport for supporting the project.

The Frontiers of the Roman Empire series currently includes 12 books covering Hadrian’s Wall, the Antonine Wall, the Lower German limes, the Danube limes, North Africa and Egypt, as well as national books for Austria, Bulgaria, Germany (Bavaria), Hungary, Serbia and Slovakia. 2 new books will be published shortly, covering the Eastern frontier (Middle East) and the late Roman Saxon Shore. The existing books are all available here, where you can find other resources about the frontiers of the Roman Empire.

June 2021

Putting the finishing touches to an article about a unique hoard of mid-4th century Roman coins from south Bristol. 309 coins in a pot, of which a significant number were struck by the usurpers Magnentius and Decentius who ruled the western provinces of the Roman Empire between 350 and 353.

The hoard includes Magnentius’s remarkable coinage with the legend SALVS DD NN AVG ET CAES (loosely translates as ‘safety or well-being of our lords and emperors’), around a striking design of a large Chi-Rho flanked by alpha and omega.

The SALVS type associated the health and prosperity of the Empire with Christianity, although the design of these coins also might have emphasised Magnentius’ devotion to Catholic orthodoxy (in contrast to the Arian form of Christianity favoured by Constantius II, the eastern emperor in Constantinople).

The board’s latest coin was struck 355-8, so it must have been collected and buried after the usurpers’ defeat and suicide in 353. The Bristol region produces a cluster of contemporary hoards – were they buried in the years immediately following the failed usurpation when the Roman authorities purged Britain of Magnentian supporters?

The hoard was excavated by Cotswold Archaeology and the article, which will be published in the next issue of Numismatic Chronicle, is co-authored with CA’s Ed McSloy.

April 2021

15 March 2021

Excited to be launching the new website for Vianova Archaeology & Heritage Services!

It happens to be the Ides of March, but we’ve been to the Augures and they’ve comfrmed that today is an auspicious day. We certainly think so!