Projects
SSARG runs a number of complementary but independent research projects.
South Cadbury
Founded in the early 1990s by Richard Tabor, the South Cadbury Environs Project (SCEP) was originally intended to look at the area immediately around South Cadbury hillfort. Since then it has gone through a number of phases of development, both as an organisation and in its scope. The project became part of SSARG in 2009.
Lufton Roman Villa
In March 2009, SSARG (then still the SCEP VA) assisted Yeovil Archaeological & Local History Society in carrying out a geophysical survey of the site of the Roma villa at Lufton. As this is a Scheduled Monument, the survey was carried out under the terms of a licence issued by English Heritage.
Further geophysics work, extending the 2009 survey area, has been carried out in October and November 2010. Whilst the results have yet to be analysed in detail, they show an amazing multi-phase complex of tracks and enclosures that is in total contrast to the plough damaged landscape surveyed earlier.
The survey is an important step in understanding the landscape context of the Lufton villa. Too often these sites are studied in isolation and it’s important to remember that for every villa dweller there were ten or more unfree peasants (coloni) working the land. The geophysics enables us to explore their world of arable and pastoral fields as well as admire the pretty mosaics and wall plaster in the big house. The survey is also a significant step in understanding the archaeological potential of the land to the west of Yeovil – land which is increasingly being encroached upon as the town expands.
Lytes Cary
In 2009 to 2010, SSARG assisted the National Trust at Lytes Cary by carrying out geophysical surveys of various parts of the estate, including a Deserted Mediaeval Village, again under licence from English Heritage. The survey built on extensive desk-based research carried out by a group of NT volunteers drawn from local U3A groups and The Charltons Historical Society. As the estate is bounded on one side by the Fosse Way and bisected by a trackway which is believed to have Iron Age origins, the estate may contain as yet unknown features from a variety of periods.