Ipplepen Archaeological Project

Dr Martin Pitts, Ceramics specialist and lecturer in Classics and Ancient History at the University of Exeter, visited the site today to oversee the progress of excavations and the Site Open Day.

Archaeology students were kept busy all day entertaining the public with detailed tours of the excavation site. The public were invited to the open day today before excavations at the site draw to a close this weekend.

Local villager Barry also dressed up as a Roman solider whilst visiting the information point at the Hub today! Over 100 members of the public visited the information point today before being directed on to the excavation site for a tour by the archaeology students.

This image is a record of one of the Roman coins found near the excavation site by metal detectorist Dennis, who discovered the entire archaeological site along with fellow metal detectorist Jim in 2007.

Archaeology students Ben and Vicky record a pottery sherd which is possibly a local imitation of Roman Samian ware pottery. This is an interesting development in understanding how the natives were interacting with the Romans in this area.

Archaeology students led members of the public in small groups for a tour of the excavation site.

The Site Open Day received many local villagers including Barry who arrived in costume at the site and information point! Barry has also contributed his time and work at the site as a volunteer in recent weeks.

Archaeology students created a rota in preparation for the Site Open Day this morning. Archaeology student Alison exclaimed, “we are ready for the crowds!” Over 200 people visited the excavation site today.

Archaeology student Nick captured this view of the site this morning in preparation for the Site Open Day to the public.

Archaeology student Emily describes her time at the dig at Ipplepen:

“Participating in the Ipplepen dig this summer has been of real value, it’s been great to have this opportunity as part of my degree course. The dig has enabled me to put into practice the archaeological theory learnt from the last year and also to place the site into the wider Romano-British context. it’s been a varied 3 weeks on site; I have been able to do lots of different tasks from mattocking and shovelling to filling out all the necessary context sheets and doing section drawings. I hadn’t envisaged how excited I would feel at finding a piece of Roman pottery sherd amongst all the soil and shillet! The two pieces of pot I found which fit perfectly together to form the base of a Roman pot are surely on the top of my finds list. I also enjoyed spending time in the HUB , being able to speak about the site with enthusiastic locals. Overall, it has been a wholly worthwhile and enjoyable experience for me, and I’d love to return next year to see what else is uncovered.”