Pre Roman Calleva

Pre-Roman Calleva

The most impressive remains of the Iron Age period are the earthworks to the west of the Roman town wall. Along part of the section to the southwest, in Rampier Copse, the crest still rises almost 5m above the ditch. Within these earthworks, in the area of the later basilica, excavations have revealed evidence of dense occupation from about 25BC.

left: Section through reconstruction of defensive ditch and rampart
right: Photograph of Rampier Copse

A mass of material, both artefactual and environmental, reveals a very Romanised population with evidence in the form of styli and graffiti for writing in Latin. Quantities of pottery were imported from northern and central France as well as the Mediterranean regions, including containers for wine, olive oil and other preserved foods. Oysters, otherwise unknown from inland Iron Age sites, were abundant and the presence of fowl and the proportion of pork and beef to other meats are also indicative of habits quite different from those of the local population in the countryside. Even in the choice of building materials, we see a preference for oak, a wood generally favoured by Roman carpenters.

Defensive earthworks and street grid

By the beginning of the first century AD remains of streets at right angles to each other indicate the possibility of some regular planning made up of rectangular plots and timber-framed buildings.

If this layout proves to encompass the whole Iron Age settlement, it will give the appearance of a Roman town with its regular street grid and town blocks (insulae). Protected at the same time by a new defensive rampart (the inner earthwork) the settlement covered some 32ha (80 acres) and continued to develop in this form up to the mid-to-late first century AD.

These drawings show (from left to right): a. Iron Age round houses on the basilica site, b. Iron Age buildings laid out on a rectangular grid in the late first century BC and c. Street grid with flanking fences and pits from the latest Iron Age phase in the early first century AD.

Eppillus, 'King of the Atrebates'

To the pre-Roman period we can attribute the coins of Eppillus, selfstyled REX (king), which carry the marks of CALLE or CALLEV and are generally regarded as having been produced at Calleva. Eppillus described himself as son of Commius, a claim he shared with two other leaders, Tincomarus and Verica. While Tincomarus, fleeing to Rome by AD 7, was probably ousted by Eppillus, Eppillus himself appears to have been ejected by his brother Verica who ruled until the beginning of the 40s, when he was forced out of Britain, probably by the Catuvellaunian prince, Epatticus or Caratacus. It is reasonable to presume that all three ruled from Silchester for some or all of their respective reigns. The fact that they all claimed to be descendants of a certain Commius, who is usually identified as the Gallic leader of the Atrebates who escaped to Britain from Julius Caesar about 50 BC, adds weight to the hypothesis that Commius was the original founder of Calleva.

Reconstruction of an Iron Age chariot

What role did pre-Roman Calleva play?

Following the description furnished by the Greek geographer Strabo, writing in the late first century BC about exports from Britain as a whole, we may envisage Calleva as drawing tribute in the form of corn, cattle, hides, slaves and other raw materials from the Atrebatic territory of central southern Britain as well as trading for similar commodities from more distant parts of Britain. These goods were exchanged for cash, luxury food-stuffs and manufactured items from the Roman world.

Late Iron Age bronze razor-handle

There is certainly evidence for the production of a range of bronze metalwork, principally horse-gear, and, as signalled above, a strong probability of the minting of coinage in precious metals. Such trade seems also to have passed through the hands of other groups, such as the Catuvellauni, immediate neighbours to the east of Calleva. As the expanded distribution of their coins indicates, a desire for further control may have been one of the reasons behind the Catuvellaunian occupation of Atrebatic territory, including Calleva, in the years immediately preceding the Roman invasion.