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Ribchester Revisited, United Kingdom. - Institute for Field Research
Location: Ribchester, United Kingdom
Season:
June 12, 2019 to July 15, 2019
Application Deadline:
Friday, April 5, 2019
Deadline Type:
Rolling
Flyer:
syllabus-uk-ribchester-2019.pdf
Program Type
Field school
RPA certified
no
Affiliation:
Institute for Field Research, Connecticut College, University of Central Lancashire
Project Director:
Dr. Duncan Sayer, Dr. James Morris
Project Description
This field school offers students the opportunity to experience excavating a Roman fort. Located in the historic village of Ribchester, within the heart of Lancashire’s beautiful Ribble valley. The auxiliary cavalry fort at Ribchester was established in CE 72-3 on the north bank of the river Ribble, constructed by the twentieth legion, and then occupied by the Ala II Asturum a Spanish auxiliary unit. In the 2nd century the fort was rebuilt and garrisoned by a Sarmatian cavalry unit; a connection which has led some to draw parallels between Ribchester and the mythology of King Arthur. Each of these groups brought their own identity leaving distinctive, but subtle traces in the archaeological record.
Ribchester offers IFR students the unique opportunity to learn the recording methods and skills necessary to deal with complex archaeology within a structured learning environment. Students all receive weekly one-on-one feedback to discuss their progress and leaning goals. Throughout the excavation students can undertake mini-classes in elements such as environmental archaeology, artifact recording, and public outreach.
The Ribchester excavations focus on a large 30m by 10m trench just inside the fort’s north gate, opposite the granaries. This is allowing us to carefully explore the later Roman and post-Roman archaeology of this important fort and understand the changing relationship between soldiery and civilian identity during and after the Roman occupation. In previous years IFR students have excavated the forts gatehouse, workshop floors and the external ditches to the fort, finding over 8,000 artifacts. In 2019 our primary objectives will be to complete the excavation of the defenses, and the later buildings, focusing on the environmental and artefactual evidence. With over 700 small finds identified in 2018, including evidence of eight shoes a silver brooch and bone handled knife, 2019 promises to be a fun and finds-packed year!
Period(s) of Occupation: Roman Period
Project size:
1-24 participants
Minimum Length of Stay for Volunteers: Participants must stay entire duration of the field school.
Minimum age:
18
Experience required:
No prior experience required.
Room and Board Arrangements
For the initial four nights in Preston students will be accommodated in university dorms. During the excavation students, supervisors and directors camp 50 yards from site in their own tents. Students are responsible for keeping the campsite tidy at all times. The project is very fortunate to have access to the Village Hall for use during the day as the finds processing facility or site office and in the evenings it provides shelter and a communal focus. This includes a fully equipped kitchen with cutlery and crockery, fridges, oven and two sinks. There is access to a washing machine during the project. Showers are hired in on a trailer and are good quality facilities powered from the mains electrics and bottled gas. Every day (except Monday which is the day off) food is provided in the evenings from a local catering business, and their shop, which is five min walk from site, provides the opportunity for people to purchase excellent bacon sandwiches during rest times if required.
Students on the project are organized into rotas and each day a small team will prepare lunch, do cleaning, tidying (campsite and grounds) and washing up. Participation in this is mandatory and will be organized fairly and equally amongst the participants. This is strictly maintained and participation is considered part of the assessment process. This means that the site and facilities are kept to a high standard which is important since we are informally monitored by the parish council and the community.
Cost:
Room and Board are included in the cost of the program.
Academic Credit
Name of institution offering credit:
Connecticut College
Tuition:
$4,630
Location
Recommended Bibliography:
MANDATORY READINGS
Edwards, B. J. N. The Romans at Ribchester Discovery and Excavation. Lancaster: University of Lancaster
Green, K and Moore, T. 2002. Archaeology: an Introduction. London: Routledge. (Chapter 3).
Mattingly, D. 2007. An Imperial Possession: Britain in the Roman Empire, 54 BC-AD 409. London: Penguin (Chapters 1 to 6)
Museum of London Archaeology Service. 1994. Archaeological Site Manual. London: Museum of London. (Chapter 1, 2.1, and 3) Available from: http://www.museumoflondon.org.uk/files/1413/7243/1495/MoLASManual94.pdf
Petts, D. 2013. Military and civilian: reconfiguring the end of Roman Britain in the North. European Journal of Archaeology. 16.3, 314-335
RECOMMENDED READINGS
Allason-Jones, L. 1999. What is a military assemblage? Journal of Roman Military Equipment Studies, vol. 10: 1-4
Allison, P.M. 2006. Mapping for Gender: Interpreting artefact distribution in Roman military forts in Germany. Archaeological Dialogues 13.1, 1-48
Bidwell, P. 2007. Roman Forts in Britain. London: Batsford/English Heritage.
Breeze, D. J. 2014. Two Roman Britain’s. Archaeological Journal. 171.1, 97-110 Available from: https://www.academia.edu/9432152/Two_Roman_Britains
Buxton, K and Howard-Davis, C. 2001. Bremetenacum: excavations at Roman ribchester 1980, 1989-90. Lancaster: University of Lancaster
Crow, J. 2004. The Northern frontier of Britain from Trajan to Antoninus Pius: Roman Builders and Native Britons. In. Todd, M. (ed.). A Companion to Roman Britain. Oxford: Blackwell. 114-135
De la Bédoyère, G. 2013. Roman Britain: a new history. London: Thames & Hudson
English Heritage. 2011. Roman Forts and Fortresses. London: English Heritage
Available from: http://historicengland.org.uk/images-books/publications/iha-roman-forts-fortresses/
Gardner, A. 2007. An Archaeology of Identity: soldiers and society in late Roman Britain. Walnut Creek: Left Coast Press
Gardner, A. 2013. Thinking about Roman imperialism: postcolonialism, globalization and beyond? Britannia, 44, 1-25
Millett, M. 1990. The Romanization of Britain: an essay in archaeological interpretation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
Millett, M and James, S. 2001. Britons and Romans: advancing an archaeological agenda. York: Council for British Archaeology Report No. 125. Available from: http://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/archives/view/cba_rr/rr125.cfm
Pitts, M. 2008. Globalizing the local in Roman Britain: an anthropological approach to social change. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology, 27, 493-506
Rushworth, A. 2009. Housesteads Roman Fort - the Grandest Station: Excavation and survey at Housesteads, 1954-95. London: English Heritage Available from: http://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/archives/view/eh_monographs_2014/contents.cfm?mono=1089086
Southern, P. 2004. The Army in late Roman Britain. In. Todd, M. (ed.). A Companion to Roman Britain. Oxford: Blackwell. 393-408
Todd, M. 2004. The Claudian Conquest and its consequences. In. Todd, M. (ed.). A Companion to Roman Britain. Oxford: Blackwell. 42-59
Van Der Veen, M. 2008. Food as embodied material culture – diversity and change in plant food consumption in Roman Britain. Journal of Roman Archaeology 21, 83-110
Wilmott, T. 1999. Birdoswald: Excavations of a Roman fort on Hadrian's Wall and its successor settlements, 1987-1992. London: English Heritage Available from: http://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/archives/view/eh_monographs_2014/contents.cfm?mono=1089018
Woolf, G. 2004. The present state and future scope of Roman archaeology: a comment. American Journal of Archaeology, 108.3, 417-428.
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