Silchester Insula IX: The Claudio-Neronian Occupation of the Iron Age Oppidum : The Early Roman Occupation at Silchester Insula IX

How did a major nucleated settlement respond to the Roman conquest? Occupation of Silchester (Calleva) after the Roman invasion of south-east Britain in A.D. 43 shows remarkable continuity from the pre-Roman Iron Age oppidum. Although the settlement was crossed by strategic Roman roads, the network of lanes and compounds, crowded with round and rectangular buildings, otherwise remained little changed until c. A.D. 85. The contents of rubbish pits and wells give remarkable insights into the diet, occupations, identity and ritualistic behaviour of the inhabitants, while the richly varied provenances of the pottery and other finds reveal the local, regional and long-distance connections of the community.