Vindolanda

The new phase of the Vindolanda research excavations, from 2008 to 2012, will be one of the most exciting research projects that the Vindolanda Trust has undertaken in its 37 year history. It will give archaeologists a great deal of detail about life on a military settlement on the northern frontier of Roman Britain. The excavations will attempt to address the specific question 'was there a great divide between those who lived inside and those who lived outside the walls of the Roman fort at Vindolanda in the 3rd and 4th centuries?'. To answer such a question, the buildings, material culture and diet of those who lived inside the walls of the fort compared to those outside will be a key consideration.

The areas under investigation would include a section of the vicus (the aim of which is to link the sections already excavated thereby offering a tolerably comprehensive plan of the settlement), the granaries inside the fort and the north western quadrant of the fort. This will offer detailed information on the food supply to the garrison as well as comparable domestic material to that recovered from extramural areas of the site. The project will take five years to complete. The plan of the site below marks out the location of the vicus excavations as well as the work that will take place inside the fort.

Area B
In 2007, Justin will expand on the work done at the west of the site between 2003-2006. It is hoped that more of the third century stone buildings situated outside the last stone fort will be uncovered, with the possibility of temples, industrial workshops and houses. In addition, more of the mysterious and truly massive, pre-Hadrianic timber building will be excavated to further establish its exact size and function. On the evidence of the last few years of excavation, this promises to be an extremely interesting and stimulating area.

- THE VINDOLANDA EXCAVATIONS FOR 2010

Area A - Fort and North Field 2010

Inside the Fort
Continuing on from the fantastic results of 2009, the excavations inside the last stone fort ay Vindolanda will continue to explore the very last periods of occupation on the site from the 4th century to post Roman. The current excavation area of 2009 (displaying 4th century shops, houses, workshops and yards) will be lowered from the 4th century levels to examine the earlier 3rd century barracks which are situated directly below the remains of the 4th century buildings. This will be achieved by lifting the floors of the 4th century structures whilst carefully retaining the framework of the buildings themselves which are to be preserved for future consolidation and display. The trenches will extend further to the east of the current 2009 area to include the main road running from the north gate of the fort to the headquarters building. It is hoped that this road remains largely intact and will offer further evidence of 4th century commercial activity within the walls of the fort. If 2009 is any indication of what we may uncover, we can expect another fantastic year inside the fort.

The North Field
The work in the field to the north of Vindolanda will continue with another exploratory trench. This trench will be placed into the field opposite the main site admission building and will be looking for traces of a potential fort ditch which was noted during the refurbishment work of the admission building, and will also be seeking a possible alternative line for the Stanegate road itself.

Area B - outside the walls of the last stone fort 2010

Excavation in area B in 2010 will continue to build on research into the extramural garrison settlement. Work will examine the buildings situated outside the 3rd century fort walls with the aim of establishing their size, form and probable use. It is expected that various houses, shops, workshops, and perhaps religious buildings, will be identified. Coupled with their location within the main infrastructure of the extramural garrison settlement, this data will allow us to identify potentially different zones of use, as well as establishing when the settlement was finally abandoned. Ultimately the information gathered from the excavation will tie in with research conducted in Area A to establish the extent and nature of the divide between the military fort and its associated extramural garrison settlement outside the fort walls.