Late Iron Age-Roman transition in the Southampton area Seminar

Archaeologically Southampton has traditionally consisted of three historic towns, Roman Clausentum, Middle Saxon Hamwic and medieval Hamtun, but what went before? The last survey of the Iron Age evidence in Southampton was published in 1984. It was mostly stray finds. Since then evidence has turned up on a number of development sites, mostly excavated to look for other periods. These sites show evidence of settlement, industry and agriculture and illustrate what was going on in the area before the Roman conquest. Some show evidence of a marked change. Can this be put down to the Romanisation of the area? One aspect of Roman Southampton is its development as a major port, which it has been ever since. Is there any evidence that it had this function before the conquest? Given all this new evidence can we now predict which future development sites we should be targeting to learn more about Iron Age Southampton?

All are very welcome to attend, particularly undergraduates.