Extract from the project design submitted by Time Team and the Canterbury Archaeological Trust
The Time Team project aims to investigate an open space in the back of properties facing Stour Street, to the north of Beer Cart Lane. This lies in the area of the Roman temple precinct identified in earlier excavations by the Canterbury Archaeological Trust.
The precinct, an irregular trapezoid measuring roughly 130m by 70m, was laid out some time in the late 1st/early 2nd century AD, surrounded by masonry walls lined with a colonnaded portico about 3m wide. Finds suggest the presence of a major classical temple, as well as lesser shrines. In the western corner of the precinct, a rectangular wooden shrine of 'Celtic' type was excavated, with a clay-floored inner cell and outer ambulatory.
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The chief objective of the project is to bring to bear modern scientific archaeological techniques on the hypotheses put forward for the 4th- to 5th-century stratigraphic sequence identified elsewhere.
The temple precinct underwent many resurfacings after its establishment, resulting in a laminated sequence of gravel surfaces up to 0.5m thick. The uppermost level of these surfaces is very different to its predecessors. provisionally dated to around AD 350. Its composition incorporates a significant proportion of demolition debris, including fragments of exotic marble veneer, mouldings, Corinthian capitals and a large fluted column shaft. It has been suggested that this material derived from the demolition or significant remodelling of the shrines and temples lying within the precinct, and maybe a change of function for this extensive urban space.
The upper interface of this final metalled surface showed significant signs of wear, suggesting that it was in use for some (unknown) period of time.
Lying directly on this worn interface was a significant assemblage of late 4th- and 5th-century artefacts, including metal objects and sherds of pottery. This has led to speculation regarding the use of the precinct during the 5th century AD, and the relationship between 'late Roman' and 'Anglo-Saxon' artefact types.
This assemblage was sealed by a layer of 'dark earth', a superficially homogeneous deposit, though containing structured elements such as simple hearths, etc. Artefacts, including early Anglo-Saxon pottery sherds, suggest that the deposit dates to the early medieval period. Similar deposits have been found elsewhere in Canterbury, where studies of this layer have suggested different formation processes in different parts of the city. The putative early post-Roman activity within the precinct adds particular interest and potential to our understanding of how this deposit formed and over what period.
Earlier work has suggested this deposit was subsequently reworked, possibly by livestock. The nature and date of this reworking has yet to be demonstrated unequivocally.
Overlying the dark earth is a series of undifferentiated clay silts of later medieval date, usually identified as 'garden soils'.
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