SORVIODUNUM - A REVIEW OF THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL EVIDENCE 



15 



Researchers have also been developing methods 

 of differentiating classes of Romano-British sites 

 from their finds assemblages (Allason-Jones 1988, 

 Cool 1995, Cool and Baxter 2001, Evans 2001). 

 Evans has carried out a functional analysis of the 

 pottery used at different types of sites by examining 

 the percentages of dishes/bowls, jars and drinking 

 vessels present. This kind of analysis has shown that 

 the levels of use of these three categories of pottery 

 differ between rural and urban sites (Evans 2001, 

 26-31 and figs 4-9). At urban sites in the south- 

 west of Britain the percentage of jars is less than 

 dishes/bowls. This contrasts with rural sites where 

 jars predominate (Evans 2001, fig. 6). Examination 

 of the Sorviodunum pottery assemblages shows that 

 jars account for around 27% and dishes/bowls 60%, 

 strongly suggesting an urban rather than a rural 

 settlement. 



Settlement Functions 



Having established that Sorviodunum was an urban 

 settlement there remains the question of what were 

 the likely functions it performed and the sequence 

 of events leading to its formation. As far as functions 

 are concerned there are four possibilities: 



One, the settlement served the surrounding area 

 as a local market/trading centre to which the rural 

 populace brought their produce and goods to barter 

 or trade and came to procure items for sale or 

 exchange. Farmsteaders and villagers from 

 surrounding sites, for example the 'village' 

 settlement recently excavated at Butterfield Down 

 (SU 166414) 10km to the north (Rawlings and 

 Fitzpatrick 1996), and from Boscombe Down (SU 

 189394) 9km to the east (Richardson 195 1), would 

 almost certainly have used it. In addition people 

 living further afield would have travelled to 

 Sorviodunum depending upon the types of goods 

 available and the distance to their next nearest town 

 in the opposite direction. 10 



Two, the town acted as a regional administration 

 center for the Roman authorities. 



Three, it provided a stopping off point and 

 communications centre for the large volume of 

 traffic travelling along the Roman roads that 

 converge at Sorviodunum. Part of the traffic would 

 have been due to the movement of goods, 

 particularly pottery from the New Forest (Fulford 

 1975, 120) and the Poole Harbour area. It has been 

 shown that Sorviodunum was on one of the major 

 corridors for the movement of South East Dorset 



Black Burnished ware north through to Silchester 

 and London (Allen and Fulford 1996). In addition 

 stone and other building materials, including lead 

 from the mines in the Mendips on its way to both 

 British and Continental destinations, would have 

 passed through. 



Four, the town would, in common with most 

 other 'small' towns in Roman Britain, have been a 

 centre for light industry whether manufacturing 

 metalware, leather or other goods (Burnham 1995, 

 10). 



Of the four functions the only one with which 

 there is uncertainty is number two. However Wacher 

 (1995, 206-7) has pointed out that even in small 

 towns there must have been official, or quasi-official, 

 buildings such as mansiones, mutationes, granaries, 

 stores-buildings for collecting taxes in kind and 

 residences for the different kinds of regionarii and 

 possibly public facilities such as baths, amphitheatre, 

 or a temple. It has already been suggested that there 

 might have been a temple on Old Sarum (Stone and 

 Algar 1955, 1 04) . However, further excavations/finds 

 are needed in order to establish if any such official 

 types of building were present. 



The sequence of events that led up to the 

 establishment of an urban or town settlement must 

 be a matter of some conjecture. At the Conquest 

 there appears to have been a number of sites occupied 

 locally by Iron Age tribes including Old Sarum, 

 Bishopdown, Highfield (Stevens 1934), and 

 Boscombe Down (Richardson 1951). Smith (1987, 

 6) and Webster (1993, 145) were both of the opinion 

 that the military would have set up a fort, however 

 temporary, giving as an indicator the find of early 

 samian ware. Webster also believed (1993, 145) it 

 would have been located at the crossing of the river 

 Avon in Stratford-sub-Castle. Frere (1975, 7) in his 

 paper on the origin of small towns concluded that 

 the great majority in Roman Britain owed their sites 

 to official action. The coin analysis provides 

 additional support since most 'good' Western towns 

 (Reece 1993, 865) appear to have military origins. 

 Possible further support for the military fort theory 

 also comes from the shape of the field boundaries in 

 Stratford-sub-Castle located close to the river and 

 the crossing point of the Roman road (Figure 4). 



Settlement Growth and Size 



The setting up of a military fort could have quickly 

 resulted in a civil settlement or vicus being 

 established alongside, providing shelter and housing 



