Sources cited in abbreviated form in these footnotes are listed in full below, p. 171. 5 Deonna (1932); Lugli (i960). 6 E.g. a funeral monument erected by Pettia Ge for herself, her patron C. Pettius Pylades, C. Clodius Antiochus marm(orarus) and others (CIL xi, 961; Deonna (1932), 428 No. 6 and fig. 1 7). but cf. the tombstone of Aebutius Agatho, curator peculi reipublicae, sevir, nauta Araricus (CIL xii, 689, Aries) and commemorations of women and children. 7 Deonna (1932), 459.

T HE recognition by R. E. M. Wheeler in 1920 that the massive Norman keep at Colchester encapsulated the podium of the Temple of Claudius stimulated Dr P. G. Laver, his collaborator in an earlier study of the colonia, 1 to excavate in and around the keep during the 1920's and 30's. Some of the results were published by the late Rex Hull in Roman Colchester (1958). At the time of Hulj's death in 1976, the writer was preparing the drawings to accompany a paper 2 which included a summary report by Hull on the excavations undertaken within and south of the keep by Laver, assisted by E. J. Rudsdale, in 1931-3. Subsequently much additional information about these excavations came to light in Colchester Museum. This raised a number of important questions, which led in 1977 to one of Laver's trenches in the sub-crypt being reopened and extended, and the cutting of a trench in front of the keep. Mrs B. R. K. Niblett (nee Dunnett) also made available the results of her excavations on the west side of the Temple precinct in 1964 and 1969. The evidence from these sources relevant to the history of the site in the Roman period is presented here; and in conjunction with previously published material has been used as the basis of a re-appraisal of its development, summarized in TABLE I. A similar study of the post-Roman history of the site has recently appeared. 3 Much of the discussion is necessarily speculative, being intended primarily to advance hypotheses which may be tested in future excavations and by further analysis of the surviving structures. *My thanks are due to David Clarke, curator of Colchester and Essex Museum, and his staff, for their assistance in making available the records and finds in their charge, for arranging the excavations in 1977, and for their forebearance over the inconvenience which stemmed from them; to the Inspectorate of Ancient Monuments, Department of the Environment, for permission to excavate in the Castle Park, which is a scheduled Ancient Monument, and for their willingness to fund those parts of this report which relate to grant-aided rescue excavations; to Justine Bayley of the Ancient Monuments Laboratory and John Evans of the NorthEast London Polytechnic for their work on various aspects of ancient technology which arose from the project, and for their reports included here; to the other contributors of specific studies whose names appear at the head of this paper, and also to Dr R. M. Luff, R. Reece and H. Toller; Dr and Mrs W. J. Rodwell, for their help with the 1977 excavation and their comments on a draft of this paper; to John Callaghan, our draughtsman, then employed under a STEP scheme to assist in the publication of backlog excavations; and last but not least, to Philip Crummy, Director of the Colchester Archaeological Trust, for his assistance in making available his own observations on the temple and castle, and his help in general to one who is a mere interloper in the archaeology of Colchester. 1 'Roman Colchester', JRS ix (1919), 139-69. 2 'Colchester Castle: some unpubl...

In Rome, during the late Republic, it became increasingly usual for those who had undertaken the construction of a building, whether as civic magistrates ex officio or as private individuals, to ensure that their achievements would be remembered by having the building inscribed with a record of what they had done. The practice became commonplace in the provinces of the Empire, on civic buildings, in military forts and on private funeral monuments. Sometimes, surviving inscriptions can be related to archaeological remains of the buildings to which they belonged. More often they cannot be so related; but even then, they may provide valuable information about the nature of building construction and who was responsible for it.

SummaryPieces of six limestone moulds for the casting of pewter vessels, found on the Forum site at Silchester, are described and illustrated. Five were for casting three types of dish or plate. Two were moulded on both sides to form part of nests of moulds. The sixth piece was the inner mould for a cup or flagon. The techniques of manufacture are considered. The grooves for casting the rims and feet appear to be compass-drawn, but it is argued that there is no evidence that the moulds were lathe-turned.

No abstract