London of the fourth century was a somewhat different place to its first and second-century predecessor. However, it remained the capital of the ‘Diocese of the Britains’, the centre of civil administration and the largest walled settlement in Britain. As part of the Crisis, what Crisis? Project an attempt is being made to study the distribution of the latest Roman material culture (coins later than AD364 and certain types of pottery) in order to establish where activity was taking place in the very late fourth and early fifth centuries.

To date a large amount of data has been collected from archives held by the LAARC, and various commercial contractors (Museum of London Archaeology, Pre-Construct Archaeology Ltd, AOC Archaeology), which is providing new insights into the late Roman City and its southern suburb Southwark. In addition to this, more than 500 previously unidentified coins from Colchester House (a site in the City dug in the early 1990s) have been examined. This unusual site has been suggested as a possible candidate for London’s Late Roman cathedral. The coins included a hoard of fallen horseman copies (external link) deposited in the AD350s and the loss profile of the remaining coins is similar to that displayed by some West Country temples.