ARCHAEOLOGISTS have returned to Silchester for a new five-year project.

A team from the University of Reading is trying to find out whether the Roman town of Calleva Atrebatum grew rapidly from a growing local population or through French immigration in 1st Century BC.

Last year, the university's 18-year excavation, The Silchester Roman Town Life Project, came to an end.

This new project is funded through a £1m grant from the Calleva Foundation and is set to last for five years.

The team will use a range of survey methods and small scale excavations to explore Iron Age settlements across some 110 square kilometres.

Professor Mike Fulford, from the university's department of archaeology, said: "I am thrilled to begin this exciting project.

"Our excavation of Silchester Roman Town has provided an unparalleled picture of Britain during its early Roman occupation.

"Exploring Iron Age Calleva has been tantalisingly out of reach - until now."

In the first year, the team will excavate two sites - Insula III, inside the Roman Town walls, and Pond Farm, a presumed Iron Age fort to the north-west of the Roman town.

They hope to discover whether the Iron Age settlement was a natural development of a prehistoric settlement of the north Hampshire countryside, or a planned colony of Atrebates, a Gallic tribe from northern France.

The public will be able to visit the sites between Monday and Friday up until Friday, September 11, using the postcode RG7 2HP.

An open day for all the family will take place on Sunday, September 13.