In recently published research, Scott Ortman, director of the Center for the Collaborative Synthesis in Archaeology and associate professor of anthropology, and John Hanson, associate professor of Roman archaeology and art at the University of Oxford, have uncovered a new population estimate for the ancient city of Silchester. Now a ruin, Silchester was a Roman-era village in south-central England and its peak population was largely estimated at around 4,000. However, with new excavation techniques, Ortman and Hanson’s research shows the peak population to be closer to 5,500. Blake Puscher writes more about the implications of this increase in his story in the Colorado Arts and Sciences Magazine.
