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Colchester Archaeological Report 6

Excavations at Culver Street, the Gilberd School, and miscellaneous sites in Colchester, 1971-85 presents an account of the discoveries at the Culver Street site which was the major excavation of the 1980s in Colchester. The volume also contains reports about most of the small-scale excavations, watching briefs, and building surveys undertaken in the town-centre between 1971 and 1985.

Parts are described of over 70 buildings ranging in date from the barracks and other buildings of the legionary fortress to timber-framed houses of the 16th and later centuries. At Culver Street the development of a large area of the Roman town was traced from its origin in the legionary fortress through to its incorporation in the new veterans' colony, its destruction during the Boudican revolt of AD 60/61, and its later rebuilding when subsequently agriculture or at least horticulture played an increasingly important role despite the area being inside the town wall. As in Colchester Archaeological Report 3 (CAR 3), the volume provides descriptions and discussions of the excavated structures and of the objects closely associated with them such as wall-plaster, building materials, and mosaics. Also included are reports on the environmental remains. Many of the loose finds, specifically Roman pottery, post-Roman pottery, Roman small finds, post-Roman small finds, animal bone, and glass, are to be or have been published as separate corpora within the Colchester Archaeological Reports series although the coins and Roman small finds from the Culver Street and the Gilberd School sites are included here since not all of this material was available when the relevant corpora (ie CAR 2 and CAR 4) were prepared. The publication is in three parts: a book, a folder of outsize illustrations printed on both sides of four A1 sheets of paper, and a large microfiche supplement containing sections, most of the appendices, and reports on most of the watching briefs and small excavations.

Contributors include J Bayley (metallurgical material), I M Betts (tile), E Black (keyed tile), N Brown (prehistoric pottery), N Crummy (Roman small finds and building materials), J A Davies (coins), R Kenyon (Claudian coins), R Ling (wall-plaster), A Locker (fish bone), P M Murphy (environmental material), and D J Smith (mosaics).

Publication of the report was made possible by a generous grant from English Heritage.

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