Roman Villa at Shakenoak Farm Oxfordshire Excavations 1960-1976

The excavation of the Roman villa at Shakenoak Farm, Oxfordshire, was carried out between 1960 and 1976 and the results were published in five volumes between 1968 and 1978. In his Preface, the surviving author A.R. Hands writes: "The three excavators, Conant Brodribb, David Walker and the writer, were equal participants in all aspects of the excavation and publication of the site. As the only survivor of the team, I have a special responsibility in decisions regarding the reprinting of the original reports as a single BAR volume, but after so many years of close friendship and collaboration, I feel able to act on my colleagues' behalf and in accordance with what I am sure would have been their wishes. The deficiencies of the excavation and publication are obvious, and are perhaps to be expected in a work undertaken by amateurs forty years ago. But while many details could profitably be revised, I still consider the broader aspects of the analysis of the site to be tenable today and I am confident that this would be the view of my friends. Consequently, it seems preferable to republish the original reports without amendment or comment, as our considered opinions at the time, without the benefit of hindsight. No new evidence regarding the site has been forthcoming, nor is it likely to do so, virtually all the area within the enclosure having been excavated down to the undisturbed subsoil. The only light, and that an indirect one, subsequently shed on the villa has come from the writer's excavations at the nearby roadside settlement at Wilcote, a site certainly closely associated with Shakenoak (Wilcote I, 1993, BAR 232; II, 1998, BAR 265; III, 2004, BAR 370; IV, in prep.). This volume is presented as a memorial to Conant Brodribb and David Walker".