Editing Calleva Atrebatum (section)

===Sub-Roman and medieval===

After the Roman withdrawal from Britain, Calleva Atrebatum remained inhabited, but its fortunes began to falter. Major buildings at the site were used {{circa}} 400–430, but evidence of occupation begins to decline sharply after AD 450. According to Daniel G. Russo the hypothesis that the city remained in use during the sixth century, thanks to its sturdy walls, is "attractive," but based largely on guesswork, as "there is no firm written or archaeological evidence that organised Romano-British urban life existed at Calleva beyond {{circa}} 450 at the latest."<ref>{{Cite book| publisher = Greenwood Publishing Group| isbn = 978-0-313-30079-0| last = Russo| first = Daniel G.| title = Town Origins and Development in Early England, C.400-950 A.D.| date = 1998}}</ref> This is in contrast to most other Roman towns in Britain, which continued to exist after the end of the Roman era; Calleva is one of the six that did not survive the sub-Roman era, and disappeared in the Middle Ages.<ref>{{Cite book| publisher = Archaeological Institute of America| title = Archaeological Fieldwork and Opportunities Bulletin| date = 2002|page=63}}</ref>  (That said, the historian David Nash Ford identifies the site with the Cair Celemion of [[Nennius]]'s list of the [[Caer#Britain|28 cities]] of [[Sub-Roman Britain]], which, if true, would mean that the site was at least partially extant during the [[Early Middle Ages]].)<ref name=nashford>{{cite web|author=Ford, David Nash|url=http://www.britannia.com/history/ebk/articles/nenniuscities.html|title=The Archaeology of Nennius' 28 British Cities|publisher=Britannia|date=2000|archive-date=27 January 2001|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010127024500/http://www.britannia.com/history/ebk/articles/nenniuscities.html|access-date=28 February 2020|url-status=dead}}</ref>

A hypothesis has emerged that the Saxons deliberately avoided Calleva after it was abandoned, preferring to maintain their existing centres at [[Winchester]] and [[Dorchester, Oxfordshire|Dorchester]].<ref>{{cite news |first= Maev |last= Kennedy |author-link= Maev Kennedy |title= Burials 'show Roman city was cursed' |url= https://www.theguardian.com/uk/1999/apr/09/maevkennedy1 |work= The Guardian |date= 1999-04-09 |access-date= 2008-12-17}}</ref> There was a gap of perhaps a century before the twin Saxon towns of [[Old Basing|Basing]] and [[Reading, Berkshire|Reading]] were founded on rivers either side of Calleva. As a consequence, Calleva has been subject to relatively benign neglect for most of the last two millennia.<ref>{{cite web |title= A Guide to Silchester |url= http://www.silchester.rdg.ac.uk/guide |date=June 2009 |work= Silchester Insula IX|publisher= University of Reading |access-date= 2005-09-22}}</ref>