From 1997 to 2006 the Danebury Trust, under the direction of Barry
Cunliffe, excavated seven sites on the chalk downland of eastern
Hampshire to explore the rural settlement of the region in the Roman
period. The project was designed to build upon our knowledge of the area
following the excavation of the Iron Age hillfort of Danebury and of
eight Iron Age settlements in the region. The results of the present
project are published in two volumes. Volume 1 offers an overview of the
programme together with a series of studies exploring the results in
their wider contexts. Volume 2 is presented in seven separate parts each
dealing with the results of one specific excavation. The sites covered
include the Early Iron Age settlement of Flint Farm, the Early Iron Age
and Roman site of Rowbury Farm and the Roman villa establishments at
Houghton Down, Grateley South, Fullerton, Thruxton and Dunkirt Barn.
Together the sites enliven our understanding of the development of the
Iron Age and Roman rural landscape especially corn production and
processing, the use of water power for milling, status and Romanness,
ancestor cults, lineages and land-holding, and the social implications
of the great aisled halls which dominated the Hampshire landscape. The
volumes make a major contribution to our understanding of Iron Age and
Roman Britain.