East Anglia is well noted for its proliferation of Roman ‘small towns’, which formed a regular network of nucleated settlements located upon the main Roman road system. Yet relatively few of these have been subject to any degree of large-scale archaeological investigation, let alone dissemination, and so the publication of this monograph is a very welcome event. The book is described as a ‘synthetic report’, presenting a stratigraphic account and discussion of two major road-scheme fieldwork projects dating from the early 1990s. There were five discrete excavation areas, covering more than 2ha in total, all located on the peripheral areas of the Roman roadside settlement, which straddled the River Waveney on the border of Suffolk and Norfolk. These excavations have been combined with earlier investigations at the site to produce a fairly comprehensive picture of the development of the ‘small town’, which appears to have originated in the later first century AD, with some slight evidence for early military activity. Major changes occurred during the early/mid-second century AD with some evidence for a degree of centralised planning, although there were no further fundamental developments for the next 300 years, after which the settlement went out of use.

The monograph is broken down into an extensive introduction, providing a solid background for the individual projects along with a useful phasing concordance (vital, given the different schemes used), and then three chapters of stratigraphic narrative, with excavation areas quite sensibly grouped together on a geographical basis. Phase-based discussions are incorporated within these chapters, while a broader discussion is presented in the final chapter, all well illustrated with a large number of detailed site plans, sections and interpretative figures. There are brief specialist overviews in the introduction, and the general narrative is usefully interlaced with contextual accounts and illustrations (including distribution maps) of relevant finds and environmental data, although the main specialist reports are confined to a CD accompanying the volume. The reason for this, as explained in the preface, is a pragmatic decision on the grounds of cost, and, while this is totally understandable, the complete relegation to CD of what are described as “specialist studies of exceptional importance” (p. xiii) is somewhat regrettable. Ideally, at least outline quantifications of such data would have been included in the main volume to enable it to stand alone in the event of digital theft or malfunction; an online resource would also have provided a significantly increased audience for this work.

There is no doubt that much of the specialist information is of great importance, and the reports on the CD are all comprehensive and informative, if occasionally somewhat ‘raw’ with, for example, the odd table missing. The waterlogged wooden materials in particular are an exemplary feature, with well-preserved roof timbers, well-linings, vehicle parts and furniture, including a remarkable maple table leg. The account of this material, both in the specialist report and in the main volume, is admirable, striking the right balance of technical detail and wider contextual discussion, including the nature and extent of woodworking and woodland management. The specialist data are also used to highlight additional craftworking activities within the ‘small town’, such as tanning/leatherworking and metalworking which, although not on an industrial scale, must have formed a consistent part of the settlement's economy throughout most of its existence.

Other economic concerns within the roadside settlement are indicated by evidence for malting and milling, the latter suggested not only by millstone fragments but also by possible remnants of the mill structure itself. Dark earth deposits, characteristic of many ‘urban’ Roman settlements, have been comprehensively examined, with the conclusion that they do not represent abandonment and decline but surface composting—the accumulation of domestic and other waste for agricultural use. Religious aspects are indicated by a small temple of Romano-Celtic type and examples of potential ‘placed’ or ‘structured’ deposits, while a series of cremation and inhumation burials provide some evidence for the resident population. Overall, the impression is of an extensive and vibrant settlement with a range of local artisan craftworking and agricultural functions, yet without any evidence for higher-status occupation, at least in the areas excavated, with almost all of the buildings being of timber and only the temple having a tiled roof.

The extensive excavations at Scole are very important for our understanding of Roman roadside settlements, not only in East Anglia but also nationally. This monograph joins a small but growing number of recent publications on these sites, with others such as Wixoe in Suffolk soon to follow. Clearly, it has not been an easy road in bringing the results of this work to final publication, which, we are told, occurred 16 years after an initial draft report was produced. Delays are always unfortunate, especially given the accelerating pace of archaeological work in the region, but the end results presented here are certainly admirable in their scope and presentation.