Roman Guernsey: excavations, fieldwork and maritime archaeology 1980-2015

Before the 1970s, discoveries of Roman material in Guernsey consisted of a few chance finds of coins, plus a handful of sherds of samian pottery from the harbor and from prehistoric megaliths. Since the 1980s, however, two large-scale excavations in the town of St Peter Port, plus accumulated evidence from rescue excavations elsewhere in the island and from underwater discoveries, has demonstrated that there was significant Roman occupation which lasted for several centuries. This volume presents reports of the excavations carried out at La Plaiderie (1983–85) and the Bonded Store (1996–2005) in St Peter Port, together with a gazetteer of all Roman finds recorded from almost one hundred other sites in Guernsey and Herm. It includes a detailed study of the pottery recovered from the two town sites, which demonstrates that Guernsey was a significant port-of-call on the Atlantic trade route and along the length of the Channel. Finds included pottery, including samian, glass, intaglios, metalworking debris, a range of small finds, and environmental data. The volume concludes with a gazetteer of Roman sites and finds on Guernsey and Herm.

Table of Contents

List of figures
List of tables
Acknowledgements
I. The excavations
1. Introduction: the archaeological evidence for the Romans in Guernsey and the other Channel Islands
2. Excavations at La Plaiderie, 1983–1985
by Philip de Jersey
3. Excavations at the Bonded Store, 1996–2005
by Heather Sebire
II. The finds
4. The Roman pottery
by Mark Wood and Jason Monaghan
5. Other finds
6. Gazetteer of Roman sites and finds on Guernsey and Herm
by Tanya Walls, Philip de Jersey and Jason Monaghan
Bibliography
Appendix: pottery codes