The Bignor Excavation Project

Research Aims and Methodology

by C. G. Swarbrooke - August 1997.

Assignment for the Archealogical Certificate at Sussex University

Introduction

Bignor Roman Villa, one of the largest villas in Britain, is sited on an upper Greensand Ridge, north of the South Downs in West Sussex , and close to ‘Stane Street’, the Imperial Roman Road that linked Chichester to London.

The site was first discovered in 1811 by George Tupper, a local farmer whilst ploughing.  John Hawkins a local resident from Bignor Park commenced the initial excavations and invited a leading antiquary of the day,  Samuel Lysons, to supervise the work, but by 1819 excavations had ceased and most of the site was returned to arable cultivation..  
 
From these excavations an overall plan of the Villa was produced in 1817 , but it contained only the masonry walls; no pits or post holes were shown and there was no attempt at establishing chronology.

Most of the finds from these early excavations were neither kept nor recorded, but cover buildings, erected in June 1812 over the principal mosaics, enabled the site to become a popular tourist attraction.

Further Excavations

Over a century later in 1925, more excavations were undertaken by S. E. Winbolt who re-excavated and repaired the cold plunge Bath that had been left open to the elements , as well as producing a Guide Book which was further revised in 1930.

A chronology for the constructional phases of the West Wing  was established after limited excavations by Professor Frere during 1956 and 1962.  The excavations indicated that three successive buildings had occupied the site of the villa's West wing and two distinct periods of construction had been carried out in the North wing showing how it had evolved from a modest building in the early 3rd Century to a Grand Courtyard Villa in the 4th Century.

Soon after this a site museum was built, some of the mosaics were re-laid, and in the 1975 - 76 season, further excavations were undertaken in the North corridor . 
In 1984 - 85 the site museum was refurbished, and during the period 1985 - 1990 a programme of assessment excavations commenced in association with a programme of conservation and repair.  "The primary objective of the excavations was to assess the quality of any surviving remains with the aim of long term presentation if warranted, but no attempt was made to excavate revealed features and deposits fully"
Various parts of the site were investigated including the main baths, the north-east corner of the Villa and the boundaries of both the domestic and farmyard areas.

The baths on re-excavation were found to have been left open for a long period and then robbed prior to back filling, but as a result of this excavation, two very important stratigraphic sequences were recorded which provided evidence of occupation before the building of the baths.  Masonry footings for half timbered/masonry structures were found and a sequence of constructural phases for the bath complex and for the development of the courtyard villa were established.

The line of the villa’s surrounding wall was re-established and confirmation of the development of the villa in the 4th Century from a winged corridor structure, through a phase with two long lines of rooms on either side of the approach, to a courtyard building with adjoining outer farmyard was given.

The 1985/86 programme of excavations carried out in the courtyard villa and farmyard showed that Lysons' original plan was not correct, and the programme was then modified to determine if the limits of the villa were accurate; they were also successful in re-locating and assessing the condition of the parts of the villa excavated in the early 19th Century and reburied, which as a result were then removed from arable cultivation.   The excavations added information on the development and occupation of the site and it was now possible to produce a revised plan correcting Lysons' original plan.

Flints from the Mesolithic period and the later Neolithic - Bronze Ages have been found, as have a small amount of later Bronze Age and early Iron Age pottery that show the site was occupied prior to the Romano-British period. 

From the many bones found, (mainly cattle) it was established that the reliance for meat was on domestic animals, but some bones of Red Deer and Wild Boar  have been identified as have those of unidentified birds, indicating that these were also hunted for food.

 
Further excavations were carried out during 1991-96, and excavations outside the farmyard have revealed that archaeological remains continue beyond the known boundary wall of the villa, whilst a Geophysical survey in 1993 (Rudling 1994, 16-17) gave unexpected results and showed signs of a possible rectangular building (Fig 6)  in the area where it was intended to carry out further excavations in 1996, but two of the buildings originally recorded by Lyson were not detected.

1994 saw the start of a four year research excavation project designed to investigate parts of the outer enclosure or Farmyard / Stockyard, whilst the continuation of the Geophysical survey started in 1993 failed to locate any new significant anomalies in 1994.

A further resistivity survey of the farmyard in  1995 and continuation of the 1994 Trench ‘A’  excavation failed to find the buildings indicated by the high resistance or dark area on the shade plot of the survey, but considerable masonry was found in the continuation of a pre-historic enclosure ditch; whilst in 1996 two further ditches just to the north of, and roughly parallel with, the masonry wall of the 4th century outer enclosure were discovered. From the finds in the fill, dates will be given but they are thought to be First and Second Century.  1996 also saw the finding of the first human bones - an infant burial and evidence of a chalk causeway, suggesting a trackway over boggy ground.

Methodology

As the buildings at Bignor are scheduled as an Ancient Monument, permission has to be obtained each year from The Secretary of State for National Heritage to enable excavations to be carried out; together with a summary of previous excavation, reasons for the proposed excavation, how it will be carried out, and notification of any proposed publications.

Safety has to be observed on site at all times and an Archaeologist has to monitor the works; present day methods of excavation differing greatly to those carried out by Lysons and his farm workers.

Turf and topsoil are first removed either by hand or by the use of a machine  with a toothless bucket, and then a pickaxe is used for breaking up the ground.  A mattock is also used for digging or shaving off thin layers of soil to reach the natural level.    Spades are also used for cutting out turf or for cutting straight the sides of trenches, whilst loose soil is removed by shovel into a barrow for disposal on a spoil heap.   Hand Trowels are then used for excavation or for cleaning off areas.

Individual areas are now trowelled carefully, and it is at this stage that features, usually indicated by a change in the soil colour can be first noticed.     The excavation area is divided into a grid to enable all parts of the site to be recorded accurately and items of interest such as pottery, glass, worked  flint, fire-cracked flint, tesserae, floor tiles, roofing tiles, bones , metal objects, and charcoal etc. are kept for future investigation.

Three methods are usually used to record details of an excavation : 
1. Written site records.
2. Drawings
3. Photography
and in the case of Bignor all three methods are incorporated in the final report on the excavation, published in The Sussex Archaeological Collection.

1. Written Site Records :
These cover survey details including level record sheets, Information contained within context record forms, sample forms and the Finds Register.

2. Drawings :
The site is drawn as a true record and presented in precise terms with a scale, hopefully for future publication..  Grid frames one metre square, divided into twenty-five squares each of twenty cms are used to help draw a plan of the site.  This plan is drawn to a convenient scale (usually 1:20) and the drawing shows the context number, the title and sheet number, the key, the scale, the north point, the date and author.

When a feature is excavated, the area is hand trowelled and any finds are collected and  bagged with the context number attached.   Only half of any feature is excavated, recorded on the plan and given a context number which is marked within a circle - the other half remaining in situ for posterity.   Where pits and trenches have been excavated, sections and plans are drawn, context numbers shown, co-ordinates shown, and the plan is also given map references which are later plotted on an Ordinance Survey map.  Depths of slopes are indicated by ‘hachure’ and levels are taken on site at feature positions.

3. Photography
Photography does not give a either a true record or all of the information of the excavation; but during and towards the completion of same, individual features and the site are photographed.   The scale in the form of ranging poles or rods must be included in the photograph together with a context or location number.  It is important that prior to any photography, trench edges are trimmed, the site is tidied up and water is sprayed to expose features more clearly.

Finds Processing

Finds are recorded on the sample sheet together with their context number and are either :
  a) washed, marked and bagged;
     b) marked and bagged;
  c) bagged;
  d) counted weighed and thrown away - depending on their type. 

They are recorded in a register and usually kept for further processing.   When they are of special interest, the earth excavated is retained in bags and carefully labelled for wet or dry sieving.    In wet sieving small particles of charcoal, seeds, bones of small animals and small shells float to the surface and can be retrieved in a sieve. These remains can then be studied by the Environmental Archaeologist and the economy of the site and the diet of the inhabitants can be assessed.
Where larger bones are found, the type of animal can usually be identified and whether it was used for food (evidence of butchery marks) or for traction.
Bignor has never produced many finds from sieving but in 1996 small pieces of charcoal, seeds and some small shells were found.
Other finds in 1996 included : worked and fire-cracked flint, many pieces of different types of pottery including some Samian ware, pieces of roofing tegula and flooring tiles, tesserae, iron nails, animal bones and teeth, oyster shells and charcoal of various sizes.

Conclusions

Much has been learnt about Bignor Roman Villa in the past few years, and our knowledge of how the buildings developed from a simple farmhouse in the 2nd century to the winged corridor villa in the 4th Century has been extended by recent excavation and the re-excavation of Lysons original work.       The 1996/1997 excavations should go a long way to answering the question as to the possible origins of the site, with the finds in the ‘infill’ of the enclosure ditches broadening our knowledge of the occupation of the site prior to the Roman occupation of Britain.

But several questions though will still remain a mystery :
Why did the status of the villa change dramatically from a simple farmhouse to the magnificent villa with its elaborate mosaics and bath-house ?,  Did it have a new wealthy owner or was it divided up into several family units ?,  Was the use of the outer enclosure restricted to the Farm or Stockyard, or was it part of another domestic complex ?.

Where are the graves of the occupants ?, the only human bones that have been found to date are those of a baby, and where is the water supply for the villa ?, the Baths Complex suggests that it would have required a vast amount of water; and finally what happened to the villa in its declining years ?

Future excavations and the use of more advanced Technology will help to provide some of these answers, but, as there are no definitive answers in Archaeology, perhaps Bignor will retain some of her mysteries.

References :
Lysons, S. 1817. ‘An Account of the Remains of a Roman Villa, discovered in Bignor, in Sussex’. Archaeologia 18; 203 - 12.
Lysons, S. 1821. ‘An Account of further Discoveries of the Remains of a Roman Villa at Bignor in Sussex’. Archaeologia 19; 176 - 77.
Winbolt, S.E. 1926. ‘Two Notes on Roman Sussex’, Sussex Archaeological Collection 67; 85 - 88
Frere, S. 1982. ‘The Bignor Villa’, Britannia 13; 135 - 95
Aldsworth, F.G. 1983. ‘Excavations at Bignor Roman Villa 1975 - 76’.  Sussex Archaeological Collections 121; 203 - 8.
Aldsworth, F. and Rudling, D. 1995 ‘Excavations at Bignor Roman Villa 1985 - 1990’. Sussex Archaeological Collections 133, 103 - 88
Bignor Roman Villa Guide Book, 1997.
Rudling, D. 1991. ‘Bignor; Excavations at the Roman Villa’, The Archaeology of Chichester and District, 1991, Chichester District Council.
Rudling, D. 1992. ‘Bignor; Excavations at the Roman Villa’, The Archaeology of Chichester and District, 1992, Chichester District Council.
Rudling, D. 1993. ‘Bignor; Excavations at the Roman Villa (SU 987 147)’, The Archaeology of Chichester and District, 1992, Chichester District Council.
Rudling, D. 1994. ‘Bignor; Excavations at the Roman Villa (SU 987 147)’, The Archaeology of Chichester and District, 1992, Chichester District Council.
Rudling, D. 1996. ‘Bignor Roman Villa Excavations’, The Archaeology of Chichester and District, 1995, Chichester District Council,