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Introduction The Culver Archaeological Project began in 2005 with a simple programme of field-walking, survey and trial trenching in the hope of identifying further archaeological sites within the landscape around Barcombe Villa. The project operates out of Culver Farm, where our erstwhile Director Rob Wallace lives and works for the majority of the year. The first season saw the identification of a Roman roadway to the south of the villa complex, which became the focus of subsequent fieldwork seasons as we traced the road through adjacent fields. To date we have identified evidence for the road in four separate fields, and projected its course over a much wider area. The road remains the major focus of the project, but we have since expanded our research questions to encompass activity adjacent to the route and associated settlement. Excavation in 2007 and 2008 exposed the road surface and a wealth of features closely associated with it, from waterlogged wood to pottery filled pits. While a lot more work is necessary before we come to any iron-clad conclusions, it seems likely that we have identified industrial and domestic activity dating from the 1st to the 4th centuries. Archaeological sites are, however, rarely straightforward and while our research is largely focused on the Roman period of occupation we have also identified activity from as early as the Mesolithic period and into 19th century gravel quarrying. |
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Barcombe Roman Villa The site of Barcombe Roman Villa was first identified in 1999 following a programme of field-walking and geophysical survey by the Mid Sussex Field Archaeology Team (MSFAT) under the directorship of Chris Butler. In 2000 permission was granted by the landowner, Harold Stroude, for open excavations of the site – and the following seven years exposed a large winged corridor villa and associated farm complex, along with archaeological features from the Bronze Age through to the Saxon period. The site was excavated as a joint venture between MSFAT and the Institute of Archaeology at University College London (IOA at UCL) and was used as the training site for first-year undergraduates and public courses. A number of us began our archaeological careers at Barcombe Villa, and it was this site that prompted the now well-established Culver Archaeological Project. |
For further information on the villa excavations and ongoing work on
associated sites, see:
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The Roman Road – Offham to the Greensand Way Our investigation into a possible Roman road began in 2005 when an area of flint scatters was pointed out by the local farmer and landowner Mark Stroude. We promptly dropped a trial trench into the area and exposed areas of heavily compact flints with a layer of clay agger and flint foundations beneath. Unfortunately, no dating evidence was recovered from the trench and due to the sweetcorn crop the excavation could not be extended. Later that year we headed north into the adjacent Pond Field and with the help of a JCB opened two large trenches along the projected alignment of the road. The first trench held no sign of a road, but did expose a possible Bronze Age field boundary. Trench two was rather more successful, exposing similar flint foundations as seen to the south along with a possible boundary ditch and two very welcome post-holes! Roman pottery and ceramic building material were recovered from these features and seemed to confirm our initial speculations. |
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returned to Pond Field in 2007 and opened up a large area in an attempt
to identify the limits of the road and identify any adjacent activity.
We were in for a pleasant surprise – much more of the road structure had
survived than we were originally expecting, along with a flanking ditch,
a series of post-holes and pits crammed with Roman pottery! Furthermore,
the exposure of a substantial length of road surface allowed us to
project the continuation across a wider distance and thus target future
areas of work. Our investigation of the Roman road is very much
on-going, and a lot of work is required before any firm conclusions can
be drawn. Nonetheless, we can confidently state that we have discovered
a previously unrecorded roadway belonging to the Roman period of
occupation in southern England – the extent, origin and termination,
purpose and association of the road require further clarification. A more in-depth discussion of the research to-date can be downloaded as follows:
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Waterlogged Wood in Culver Mead The 2006 season focused on a series of evaluation trenches in Culver Mead, targeted on the results of a large geo-physical survey undertaken the previous year. Much of the exposed archaeology reflected 19th activity, specifically gravel quarrying in the area, which unfortunately appeared to have truncated the majority of the earlier archaeological remains. However, despite the disappointment of a number of the evaluation trenches, one area of excavation exposed a very exciting find ~ three 5ft wooden timbers were exposed beneath a layer of bluish clay in heavily waterlogged features. The extent of the feature in which the timbers were exposed is at present unknown, and further examination is planned for the 2008 season. |
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funding it was not feasible to further investigate the timbers in 2006,
and the decision was made to leave them in-situ until a more detailed
study could be undertaken. In the meantime we took a series of
wood-samples for carbon-dating tests. The results confirmed our hopes –
dating the timbers to between 250-420 AD. This, combined with finds from
the other trenches, including possible collapsed building material and a
coin of 98-118AD date, confirmed the presence of Roman archaeological
remains worthy of further investigation. At present, the nature of the wooden timbers is unknown, and while a number of theories has been put forward (including a wood-lined well, wooden waterwheel and structural evidence), we are reserving judgement until the results of the 2008 excavations can be interpreted. |
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2008 Excavations
~ a full account of the events of the 2008 dig season can be seen
in the 2008 Excavation Report. It was planned that the 2008 season would concentrate on an open excavation in Culvermead. In 2006 our team excavated seven evaluation trenches, in which we discovered the Roman road which crosses Dunstalls, Court House Field and Pond Field. We also revealed possible collapsed building material, in which a Hadrian coin was recovered (this feature was not excavated in 2006). Furthermore we half sectioned another feature found in trench B and at a depth of 1.2 metres we discovered 3 x 5 ft oak timbers (which we have since had these C14 dated to 250-420 AD +-80 years which are at present being calibrated to give us an actual date). Due to the wet weather Culvermead wheat was too wet to be harvested, so at the start of the excavations we had students and no where to excavate. With kind consent from David Rudling and Chris Butler, I took our students to work on the bath house excavations where we excavated for two weeks. On our to return to Culver Farm the rain had continue and the wheat remained in Culvermead, although Court House Field had been harvested at the end of the last dry spell. So it was decided that we would put an evaluation trench in at the SW end of the field to see if we could locate the Roman road. We also decided to open up a second trench towards the north-west end of the field. The work in the two trenches was by no means continuous; the wet weather played havoc and filled the trenches regularly. Therefore it was decided that we would carry out some geophysical surveys (Resistivity Surveys) and we also carried out a profiling project across the valley to the NW and SE of Church Road, Barcombe. Full details on the trenches and surveys are in the above linked excavation report. |
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2009 Excavations
2009 excavations finished in September...details to come... |
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