Unfortunately no map of the Roman world has yet been discovered that has survived directly from Claudius Ptolemaeus' work, conducted in Alexandria c.a.d. 120–160. However many maps have been produced from the data (8,000 geographic reference locations) contained in his monumental Geographia for the discovery of which we are indebted to Maximus Planudes of Constantinople c.a.d. 1295. The Geographia text and these maps vary in style from mainly Greek and Latin manuscript sets (codices) through a variety of printed and reproduced versions from the late fifteenth century even up to the present day.

Present assessment of the provincial enclosure at Camulodunum, more particularly how far it can be compared to the standard picture of similar centres elsewhere, is inevitably constrained by the limited evidence at our disposal. With no numismatic sources to draw on and in the absence of a single record of the provincial priesthood — a striking void that calls for comment — documentary testimony is restricted to what can be made of two passages in the literary authorities. The first, a notorious sneer in Seneca's Apocolocyntosis (VIII.3), tells only that a temple of some sort was associated somehow with the emperor Claudius. The second text, an obscure allusion in Tacitus, is at first sight no more enlightening but, on closer analysis, the phrase templum Divo Claudio constitutum (Ann. xiv.31) yields the invaluable inference that the temple was to the deified, not the living Claudius; in which case construction must have been begun in a.d. 54 or later. Archaeological data throw no light on the origins of the temple or of the precinct in which it stood but exploration has steadily enlarged our knowledge of the site itself, and understanding of the remains has now reached the stage at which, for all its puzzling lacunae, the centre is as well known in some ways as the triple-tiered complex at Tarraco, the provincial enclave of Hispania Citerior. We have arrived at the point where the British sanctuary and its counterparts on the Continent can be mutually illuminating.

It is now ten years since the first discovery of the Roman amphitheatre in London, and under ordinary circumstances it might be expected that final publication of this important monument would now be imminent. However, what is perhaps not realized is that excavation was still taking place until late in 1996. It has been a massive project, generating more than 20,000 contexts and, although a preliminary assessment has been completed, it will clearly be some time before a final publication is possible. In view of the long time-scale of the project, therefore, it has been suggested that a provisional statement on the amphitheatre should be disseminated, partly, of course, with the intention of generating interest among, or receiving feedback from, other archaeologists and historians. To some extent it is also necessary to establish the limits of the project to counter some of the slightly misleading information and speculation that has already appeared in a number of other sources. It should, however, be remembered that the interpretations offered below are only provisional.

Except for the interest aroused by their cemeteries, the extramural territories of the Roman cities of Britain have never aroused sufficient interest for them to have been subjected to systematic exploration. Nevertheless, as a sensitive barometer to chart their changing fortunes, the margins of a city have considerable potential, as Esmonde Cleary's review of the evidence from the cities and towns of Roman Britain amply demonstrated. Much of what we know derives from the results of adventitious rescue excavation carried out in the context of inter- and post-War city and town development, but comparatively little has emerged from greenfield sites like Calleva which have very largely escaped modern interference. Since the final season of the Society of Antiquaries’ excavation of Silchester in 1909 when attention focused on the ditches surrounding the town wall, only limited investigations have been made of the extramural territory of Calleva. Both Cotton and Boon excavated parts of the Outer Earthwork on the western side, but the evaluation of the defensive sequence was their principal objective, rather than an understanding of the extramural terrritory per se. That has had to wait for the systematic study of the aerial photography and material collected by field-walking which has given us a first glimpse of the organization and use of the extramural territory, and which has now been complemented by the publication of all the aerial photography from Silchester. The two types of survey have shown that the main axis of extramural activity is east-west along the roads leading to London and Cirencester/Bath. However, there is almost no aerial photography to illuminate our understanding of the north-south routes to Dorchester-on-Thames and Chichester/Winchester, although surface collection has revealed spreads of material extending over three hundred metres south of the South Gate through to trie fourth century.6 To the north, however, extensive semi-permanent pasture has hindered non-intrusive investigation and only the evidence of major structures such as the road to Dorchester, and elements of lanes and streets, have been evident from the aerial photography.

In 1990 the Glamorgan-Gwent Archaeological Trust was approached by Gwent Health Authority with respect to the archaeological potential of the areas of three developments proposed in the grounds of St Cadoc's Hospital on Lodge Hill, Caerleon. These were a College of Nursing and Midwifery at ST 3344 9095, a sheltered housing development to be built by the Abbeyfield (Gwent) Extra Care Society at ST 3280 9097, and a housing estate on an area centred at ST 3283 9090. All three lay within the area of the Lodge Hill Roman cemetery, close to where a cremation and two tombstones (RIB 358 and 392) had been found in 1909 and a sculptured head of Attis in 1972 (see FIGS 1-2). The sheltered housing scheme had already received outline permission. At the same time a watching-brief was being carried out on the widening of Pil-bach Road and the insertion of a new sewer adjacent to the Abbeyfield site.

A tombstone removed from its context loses much of its evocative nature; disassociated from the remains it was intended to commemorate its original function is obscured. The tombstone continues, nevertheless, to communicate through text and also images. Its removal may mute the impact of the message but if the stone remains un-shattered and un-concealed it is not easily silenced.

The present paper originally formed part of a Forschungsbericht on all the main branches of interior decoration in Roman Britain prepared for Aufstieg und Niedergang der römischen Welt n, 12, 4 in 1981-82. Since fifteen years have elapsed without any sign of ANRW, 11, 12, 4 seeing the light of day, I have decided to publish a new version, revised and updated to cover the half-century 1945-1995. The main difference is that the section on wall-paintings, on which I have written extensively elsewhere, is now omitted. What remains is primarily a review of research into Romano-British mosaic pavements, with brief comments on other media (opus sectile, wall-mosaic, and stuccowork) appended in a concluding section. The nucleus of this review is the Bibliography, arranged partly by themes and partly by locations, with items numbered serially (Section iv); reference will be made to it, where appropriate, in footnotes.

Coal has been widely reported from excavations of the Roman period. Although there are few contemporary accounts of its use by the Romans, it is obvious from the contexts of the finds that it was used for a variety of purposes having been recovered in association with, for example, metal-working activities, hypocausts, and a cremation pyre. Archaeologists have been interested in the economic aspects of coal as a fuel and in particular the provenance of the coals in order to reveal the existence of trade routes and the distances involved in its transport.

The mine workings at Dolaucothi have been a focus for considerable archaeological research during the better part of this century. They were first systematically described by Bosanquet and Haverfield in 1917, while their probable Roman date was underlined by the discovery of several well-preserved wooden objects (including a fragment from the rim of a drainage wheel of well-known type) when miners broke into underground stopes beneath the main opencast in the mid-1930s (FIG. I, NO. 4). The most detailed investigation of the site was undertaken in the late 1960s and early 1970s by Jones and Lewis. This saw a detailed survey of the principal surface workings, an examination of the Cothi leat and its associated features, the discovery of the so-called Annell leat, and the excavations within the newly-discovered fort under the village of Pumsaint. This work still forms the basis of our overall understanding of the early phases of exploitation at Dolaucothi, although much of the detail remains unpublished.