Showcasing Stanwick
Rachel Cubitt
Historic England, with the Archaeological Resource Centre in Northamptonshire, are archiving and publishing research on what is believed to be the largest archaeological collection in that county, from the Iron Age and Romano-British site of Stanwick.
Background to the site
Substantial excavations at Stanwick, Northamptonshire, were carried out in advance of gravel extraction between 1984 and 1992 as part of the Raunds Area Project, which otherwise comprised smaller excavation and survey work.
Extensive and productive in their own right, in the broader context of the Raunds Area Project the Stanwick excavations offer a unique opportunity to examine the development of Iron Age and Romano-British rural settlement, society and economy in a landscape setting and in the context of earlier and later evidence for settlement and agriculture.
Forthcoming work
Historic England have developed a project to ensure that materials required for further analysis work of this crucial site are publicly available and appropriately signposted.
The work plan devised to achieve these aims will have the following outputs:
- Publication of all existing work undertaken by specialists, either as reports in the Historic England Research Reports series or as journal articles
- Preparation of a research framework for the human remains recovered from the excavations
- Publication of a statement of the potential and significance of the assemblage, including recommendations for analysis as well as signposting published research
- Dissemination of the digital data archive associated with the project.
The project archive
An integral part of this project has been the successful transfer of the material archive to the newly created Archaeological Resource Centre , a dedicated repository for archaeological work in Northamptonshire. Stanwick is the largest archaeological collection in the county and the Archaeological Resource Centre team will be sharing its highlights with their visitors.
In the meantime, Historic England is preparing for deposition of the vast associated digital data archive, ensuring it is both accessible and secure for current and future generations of researchers.
Further reading
As this project progresses and outputs are generated, they will be listed and advertised here.
Our most recent publications relating to this site discuss:
You can use our research reports search to find other existing Stanwick reporting in the Historic England Research Report Series.
