Editing Calleva Atrebatum (section)

==Archaeology==
[[File:The wall of the Roman city of Calleva - geograph.org.uk - 39846.jpg|thumb|Part of the city walls (2004)]]
[[File:Reading Museum (7690279788).jpg|thumb|[[Silchester eagle]]]]
[[File:Silchester Excavation.JPG|thumb|right|Excavations at Calleva (Insula IX)]]
Calleva Atrebatum was first excavated by the [[Ellen Joyce|Reverend James Joyce]] who, in 1866, discovered the bronze eagle known as 'The [[Silchester eagle]]' now in the [[Museum of Reading]]. It may originally have formed part of a [[Jupiter (mythology)|Jupiter]] statue in the forum.

Although it had long been known that there was an abandoned Roman civilisation, excavations ordered by the landowner, the [[Arthur Wellesley, 2nd Duke of Wellington|Duke of Wellington]], only began in the late nineteenth century. Joyce was the designated observer and recorder of all archaeological records. His overall goal was to reveal the complete plan of the Roman town. Little further investigation occurred until the 1961 re-excavation of the early Christian Church where the researchers found that eighty to ninety percent of the excavation had been completed. Within those limited excavations, the foundation and the plans of the masonry buildings were exposed. They were discovered by digging trenches through the area. The architecture and archaeology of the timber buildings of the ancient Roman town were misunderstood at the time of the excavation, timber was the most notable material.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Fulford |first1=Michael |title=City of the Dead: Calleva Atrebatum |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ancient/archaeology/city_dead_01.shtml |website=BBC |access-date=4 December 2020}}</ref>

[[Molly Cotton]] carried out excavations on the defences in 1938–39.<ref>Cotton, M. A. 1947. Excavations at Silchester 1938-9. ''Archaeologia'' 92: 121-167.</ref> Since the 1970s [[Michael Fulford]] and the [[University of Reading]] have undertaken several excavations on the town walls (1974–80),<ref>{{Cite book|last=Fulford|first=M|title=Silchester: Excavations on the Defences 1974-80|publisher=Society for Antiquaries. Britannia Monograph Series No. 5|location=London|year=1984}}</ref> [[amphitheatre]] (1979–85)<ref>{{Cite book|last=Fulford |first=M|title=The Silchester Amphitheatre: Excavations of 1979-85 |publisher=Society for Antiquaries. Britannia Monograph Series No. 10|location=London|year=1989}}</ref> and the [[basilica|forum basilica]] (1977, 1980–86),<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Fulford |first1=M |last2=Timby |first2=J|title=Late Iron Age and Roman Silchester: Excavations on the Site of the Forum Basilica, 1977, 1980-86|publisher=Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies. Britannia monograph Series No. 15|location=London|year=2000}}</ref> which have revealed remarkably good preservation of items from both the [[Iron Age]] and early Roman occupations.

From 1997 to 2014<ref>{{cite web |title= The Insula IX Excavation|url= http://www.rdg.ac.uk/AcaDepts/la/silchester/publish/townlife/insula_ix.php |year= 2004|work= Silchester Roman Town - The 'Town Life' Project 1997-2002|publisher= University of Reading|access-date= 2008-12-07}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Fulford |first=Michael |journal=Theoretical Roman Archaeology Journal |date=2015 |title=Silchester: The Town Life Project 1997–2014: Reflections on a Long Term Research Excavation |issue=2014 |location=Oxford |publisher=Oxbow Books |editor1-last=Brindle |editor1-first=T. |editor2-last=Allen |editor2-first=M. |editor3-last=Durham |editor3-first=E. |editor4-last=Smith |editor4-first=A. |language=en |pages=114–121|doi=10.16995/TRAC2014_114_121 |issn=2515-2289|doi-access=free}}</ref> Reading University carried out sustained and concentrated excavations in Insula IX. Results of the Late Roman,<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Fulford|first1=M|last2=Clarke|first2=A|last3=Eckardt|first3=H|title=Life and Labour in Late Roman Silchester: Excavations in Insula IX since 1997|publisher=Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies. Britannia Monograph Series No. 22|location=London|year=2006}}</ref> Mid Roman<ref>{{Cite book|title=Silchester: City in Transition: the Mid-Roman Occupation of Insula IX c. A.D. 125-250/300: a Report on Excavations Undertaken Since 1997|last1=Fulford|first1=M|last2=Clarke|first2=A|publisher=Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies. Britannia Monograph Series no. 25|year=2011|location=London}}</ref> and Late Iron Age phases have been published.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Late Iron Age Calleva : the pre-conquest occupation at Silchester Insula IX|last=Fulford, Michael, 1948- Allen, John R.L.|date=2018|publisher=The Society for the promotion of Roman Studies|isbn=978-0-907764-45-8|oclc=1105613800}}</ref> In 2013, excavations began in Insula III, investigating a structure identified by the Victorian excavations as a bathhouse.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Fulford|first1=M|last2=Clarke|first2=A|last3=Pankhurst|first3=N|last4=Lambert-Gates|first4=S|title=Silchester: The 'Town' Life Project 2014|date=2015|publisher=Department of Archaeology, University of Reading|location=Reading|url=http://www.reading.ac.uk/web/FILES/silchester/Silchester_interim_report_2015.pdf}}</ref> From 2018, the University of Reading has re-explored the previously excavated ruins of the public bathhouse looking at what earlier excavators may have missed.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://research.reading.ac.uk/silchester/the-silchester-bathhouse/ | title=The Silchester Baths 2018-21 }}</ref>

{{wide image|Silchester Ampitheatre Panorama 360 degrees.jpg|1800px|alt=Silchester Amphitheatre Panorama 360 degrees|Silchester Amphitheatre Panorama 360 degrees (2016)}}