ARCHAELOGISTS and volunteers are due to begin work today on the most extensive survey ever undertaken at the Groundwell Ridge Roman site.
Equipment for the excavations arrived last week including portable buildings, fencing, toilets and generators.
The dig is part of a community project involving English Heritage and Swindon Borough Council.
The dig is expected to last seven weeks during which time volunteers will have the chance to team up with professional archaeologists and work on the site.
Previous digs have unearthed evidence of well-preserved Roman buildings, pottery and coins dating from the 2nd to 4th century AD.
This year's activities will focus on one of the buildings damaged when the site was discovered by construction workers in 1996. A trench will also be dug across a possible Roman road.
As the site is a protected scheduled monument, work will progress at a carefully managed pace to ensure as much as possible can be learnt about the site.
Pete Wilson, project manager at English Heritage said: "We are delighted to have the opportunity work so closely with Swindon Borough Council and the Friends of Groundwell Ridge on this project. It is exciting to see how far we have come since the site was saved from development in 1999 and we hope that this excavation will encourage many more history fans to come down and get involved."
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