SILCHESTER Roman remains have again revealed some of their hidden secrets.

The University of Reading's archaeology department has continued its 18 years of digging this iconic Roman town, which is known in Latin as Calleva Atrebatum.

The centre of this year’s dig was in an area just west of the centre of the walled city called Insula III.

Dig leader Professor Mike Fulford said: "Our first aim is to try to understand what the Victorian excavations found and we are well on the way to that in Insula III.

"There are traces of 4th century buildings and their foundations, plus a large hearth with evidence of burning, which we will analyse later.

"We also have a good range of finds and following up on the 2013/14 dig it seems that a town house nearby may have extended further than we thought.”

Additional finds include a decorated piece of Samian ware, which depicts a lion, and a roof tile, which has an imprint of a dog’s paw.

But for the first time an area 1km north-west of the dig is being explored where an Iron Age hill fort adjacent to Pond Farm is being excavated.

This pre-dates the Roman town by many hundreds of years.

Over five dig seasons since 2008 many Iron Age buildings have been found in Silchester, including one more than 50 metres in length.

This is the largest ever to be discovered in the UK.

The Romans occupied Silchester in around AD45, having taken over from the local Atrebate tribe and the site is one of the best preserved examples of an ancient walled city in Great Britain.

Digging at the site was due to finish last week. on the 11th September with a special family open day will be held on for public visitors on Sunday 13th.