What they found

Iron Age to Roman
The Blacklands site, 10 miles from Bath, had already been partially excavated and surveyed with geophysics by the Bath and Camerton Archaeological Society before Time Team was called in. The society had uncovered an early Roman villa and a substantial gatehouse built on or alongside a pre-existing Iron-Age site.

Time Team's initial investigations focused on re-surveying the site with John Gater's state-of-the-art geophysics equipment and continuing the excavations in search of the earliest phase of the villa's construction. The Team was particularly interested in trying to identify the transition between Iron-Age and Roman-era occupation on the site.

It became clear that Romanisation took place here at a very early stage, with Roman pottery finds dating from the middle of the first century AD – the time of the Roman conquest. It was also apparent that there was continuity of occupation between the Iron-Age and Roman periods; and that the Iron-Age Britons who were already living on the site seemed to have adopted Roman ways very quickly.

Roundhouses and coins
Time Team's surveys and excavations showed that before the Romans arrived there was a huge enclosure on the site. Within it were a number of large roundhouses, representing different phases of occupation.

One, excavated by Phil Harding, was a massive 15 metres in diameter. It was here that the first ever finds of Iron-Age coins by Time Team were made.

The first was dated by Roman historian Mark Corney to the century before the Romans arrived. It showed a head on one side and horse with a triple tail on the other. 'The horse is a characteristic feature of Iron-Age coins and represents luck, and possibly wealth and power,' says Mark Corney.

The second displayed a classic wheatsheaf arrangement, typical of the coinage of the Iron-Age Dobunni tribe, and was dated to the late 1st century BC or early 1st century AD. It was inscribed with the letter 'ED', believed to be part of the name Anted, and is believed to be the first such coin of this period found in context in Britain.

Massive footings
Time Team identified another two roundhouses on the site, including one that appeared to date from just after the Roman invasion. It had massive footings still in situ and a pivot stone from a doorway. These were interpreted as the remains of a large stone-built roundhouse representing the transition from Iron-Age building styles to Roman ones.

Other discoveries among what Tony described as 'a cornucopia of finds' confirmed the high status of the people living on the Blacklands site. They included fragments of window glass and pottery from the mid-1st century – a cordoned jar imported from the Roman empire for wealthy Britons.

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