Calleva Atrebatum - Excavation

Excavation

Calleva was partially excavated by the Society of Antiquaries of London between 1890 and 1909, and this excavation provided valuable information about civic life and daily life in the first centuries of the Common Era, as well as a map of the town. Whilst the excavation techniques of the time were adequate to deal with buildings with stone foundations, work in other towns of Roman Britain has revealed that timber construction predominated in the 1st and 2nd centuries AD, and the early excavations were not capable of recovering evidence of these buildings.

This excavation was believed to have destroyed evidence that might have been analysed with current technology and practices. As archaeological study of this kind can be a destructive process, the excavation of Calleva is frequently mentioned as an example of why complete excavation should not be performed.

Since the 1970s the University of Reading has become increasingly involved in new excavations. Work has been undertaken on the amphitheatre and the forum basilica, which has revealed remarkably good preservation of items from both the Iron Age and early Roman occupations. Since 1997 exploration of one of the central insulae of the town has been undertaken. Results indicated that the scope for further work inside and outside the walls is enormous.

A wingless Roman eagle discovered in excavations at the basilica in 1866 was part of the inspiration for Rosemary Sutcliff's The Eagle of the Ninth. The Museum of Reading, which houses the Silchester eagle, states that it "is not a legionary eagle but has been immortalized as such by Rosemary Sutcliff." It may originally have formed part of a Jupiter statue in the forum of the Roman town.