Cotswold Archaeology Nominated for Two Current Archaeology Awards!

The 2018 Current Archaeology Awards nominations have been announced, and we are fortunate enough to have been nominated for two awards, both in the Research Project of the Year category!

Rome’s Homes On The Range: Revealing the Romano-British Countryside

This nomination is for our work as partners with the University of Reading on the Roman Rural Settlement Project. This major project, funded by the Leverhulme Trust and Historic England, drew together published and unpublished excavated evidence for Roman rural settlement, from over 2500 sites, in order to produce a new synthesis of the countryside of Britain during the Roman period. The results of the project are presented in three volumes, dealing respectively with the rural settlement pattern, the rural economy, and life and death in the countryside. The first two of these volumes are now published!

Additionally, the project produced an online resource, which makes the data collected by the project (including site plans and information about artefacts and environmental evidence) available to anyone who wishes to use it. This resource is hosted by the Archaeology Data Service.

It is no overstatement to say that this project has been immensely influential, and its results are transforming our understanding of rural settlement, industry and life in Roman Britain.

Don’t believe us? Prof. Richard Hingley, author of an early and influential previous study of Romano-British rural settlement, has said:

‘The Rural Settlement of Roman Britain Project’ and its outputs will doubtless serve as an exemplar for future initiatives that seek to address rural settlement in the Western Roman Empire, and will provide a vital research tool for future work in England and Wales.
R Hingley, 2017 Antiquity August 2017

Bellerephon in Boxford: A Mythological Mosaic Revealed

This nomination relates to our work on a community project, ‘ Revealing Boxford’s Ancient Heritage’, a joint project involving CA, the Boxford History Project, and the Berkshire Archaeology Research Group. Funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund, over three years the project has investigated three closely linked Roman sites near to the village of Boxford in West Berkshire. This summer our excavation revealed a spectacular Roman mosaic (you may have heard of it!), associated with a late Roman villa.

The figurative mosaic is packed with mythical characters and beasts based on Greek legend, including a scene depicting the hero Bellerophon, fighting the Chimera. Other figures on the mosaic possibly include Hercules fighting a centaur, Cupid holding a wreath, and depictions of telamons in the corners.

The discovery of this exceptional mosaic attracted international attention; mosaic specialist Antony Beeson has said:

This is without question the most exciting mosaic discovery made in Britain in the last fifty years and must take a premier place amongst those Romano-British works of art that have come down to modern Britons.

Left to Right: Potentially Hercules fighting the Centaur & Cupid with a wreath in his right hand

All nominations for the Current Archaeology Awards are based on articles and books featured within Current Archaeology over the last 12 months. Voting for the awards is live (until 5th February 2018) and is open to everyone. We’d be very grateful for your support!