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Roman and Anglo-Saxon artefacts found in Baginton

Source: BBC Online
Date: 25 December, 2019

A Gaulish flagon used to pour wine has been preserved

"Breathtaking" Roman and Anglo-Saxon artefacts have been discovered in burial sites near the edge of an airport.

Pots, jugs and jewellery were found in Baginton, next to Lunt Roman Fort and Coventry Airport in Warwickshire.

Archaeologists believe two of the graves contained a "high status" ranking officer and Roman girl, aged between six and 12.

The artefacts could go on display at local museums.

The pieces were found during a dig at a housing development site in summer 2017 but many of the items have only just been officially dated and verified by experts.

Senior archaeologist Nigel Page, from Warwickshire County Council which led the dig, said it was a "remarkable" find.

"It's a significant discovery in the West Midlands," he said. "There was a real buzz of excitement when the site was found. It's breathtaking."

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-coventry-warwickshire-50809706
 
Archaeologists solve Roman Empire mystery with 500 letters discovered near Hadrian's Wall

ARCHAEOLOGISTS solved a 2000-year-old mystery after discovering 500 stone tablets revealing the secrets of the Roman Empire..

Source: express.co.uk
Date: 25 December, 2019

Neapolis was a major ancient hub, established as a trade port by the Greeks of Cyrene in the fifth century before it became a port when the Roman Empire conquered North Africa. Now, a city known as Nabeul stands where the metropolis once was, built on top of most of the remains, making them inaccessible and likely mostly destroyed. However, researcher Mounir Fantar discovered multiple tanks in this ancient city in 2017, leading him to theorise that Neapolis was an exporter of a fish sauce called garum.

https://www-express-co-uk.cdn.amppr...-mystery-vindolanda-tablets-hadrians-wall-spt
 
Thel Roman massacre that never happened: Archaeologist is accused of inventing AD43 battle after digging up skeletons of ancient tribe

Source: dailymail.co.uk
Date: 25 December, 2019

It was written into the history books as one of the nation’s most dramatic and horrific battles.

But the tale of a Roman assault on Dorset’s Maiden Castle in AD43 was invented by an archaeologist with a flair for storytelling, research claims.

https://www-dailymail-co-uk.cdn.amp...3-battle-digging-skeletons-ancient-tribe.html
 
According to my missus, most UK archaeologists are aware that Mortimer Wheeler misinterpreted the evidence at Maiden Castle. But she says it was an honest mistake, informed by the information available at the time, rather than a complete fabrication. Interpretations change all the time.
 
First intact Roman-era egg recovered

Source: archaeology.co.uk
Date: 5 February, 2020

Archaeologists have recovered the first intact egg from Roman Britain among other unusual finds during investigations in Buckinghamshire.

Oxford Archaeology’s excavation at Berryfields uncovered a wealth of evidence for Iron Age and Roman occupation at the site. They found a waterlogged pit containing what are thought to be votive deposits, including four Roman chicken eggs and a well-preserved basketry tray, as well as bridge timbers that may have carried Akeman Street over the River Thame (a tributary of the Thames).

The site is located along the path of Akeman Street, an important Roman road that now lies beneath the A41, and adjacent to the site of a Roman town in the parish of Fleet Marston. It was therefore assumed that some evidence of Roman activity would be found at Berryfields – but the site yielded a much wider range of archaeology than expected.

https://www.archaeology.co.uk/articles/first-intact-roman-era-egg-recovered.htm
 
First intact Roman-era egg recovered

Source: archaeology.co.uk
Date: 5 February, 2020

Archaeologists have recovered the first intact egg from Roman Britain among other unusual finds during investigations in Buckinghamshire.

Oxford Archaeology’s excavation at Berryfields uncovered a wealth of evidence for Iron Age and Roman occupation at the site. They found a waterlogged pit containing what are thought to be votive deposits, including four Roman chicken eggs and a well-preserved basketry tray, as well as bridge timbers that may have carried Akeman Street over the River Thame (a tributary of the Thames).

The site is located along the path of Akeman Street, an important Roman road that now lies beneath the A41, and adjacent to the site of a Roman town in the parish of Fleet Marston. It was therefore assumed that some evidence of Roman activity would be found at Berryfields – but the site yielded a much wider range of archaeology than expected.

https://www.archaeology.co.uk/articles/first-intact-roman-era-egg-recovered.htm
Hatch it...
 
Thel Roman massacre that never happened: Archaeologist is accused of inventing AD43 battle after digging up skeletons of ancient tribe

But the tale of a Roman assault on Dorset’s Maiden Castle in AD43 was invented by an archaeologist with a flair for storytelling, research claims.

That would seem odd, considering that the same legion, commanded by the same man, had most definitely previously attacked another hill fort at Hod Hill, and had taken others farther south.

maximus otter
 
Drought conditions and aerial photographs reveal many previously unknown Roman sites and roads in Wales.
Missing Roman forts and roads revealed by drought

Roman forts, roads, military camps and villas have been identified by a new analysis of aerial photographs taken in the 2018 heatwave across Wales.

Scorched crop marks uncovered about 200 ancient sites during the drought.

Experts say the Roman finds are key pieces in the jigsaw to understand how Wales was conquered and dominated 2,000 years ago.

Researcher Toby Driver said the discoveries "turn everything we know about the Romans on its head".

The aerial investigator for the Royal Commission on Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales said the new research published in the journal Britannia showed the "Roman military machine coming to rural Wales". ...

The aerial photographs confirmed the locations of at least three new fort sites, including the first found in the Vale of Gwent at Carrow Hill, west of the Roman town of Caerwent and the Roman legionary fortress at Caerleon. ...

The researchers, who included Roman experts Jeffrey Davies and Barry Burnham, have also been able to identify details of new villas - including at St Arvans, north of Chepstow in Monmouthshire. ...

Perhaps the most startling discoveries have been pieces of unknown Roman road. ...

One shows how the Roman armies pushed their way south from Carmarthen to Kidwelly, reinforcing speculation the town was home to a Roman fort - even if it may now be covered by Kidwelly Castle.
"It's the scale of the control of Wales which is exciting to see," said Dr Driver. ...

"These big Roman roads striking through the landscape - straight as arrows through the landscape." ...

"There are still huge gaps. We're still missing a Roman fort at Bangor, we've got the roads, we've got the milestones - but no Roman fort. We're still missing a Roman fort near St Asaph, and near Lampeter in west Wales we should have one as well," he said.

"Although we had loads come out in 2018, we've got this big gaps in Roman Wales that we know should have military installations - but you've got to get out in dry weather to find them."

SOURCE: https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-wales-52911797
 
Chedworth Roman Villa: 1,500-year-old mosaic suggests Britain in Dark Ages was ‘more enlightened than thought’

Radiocarbon analysis of the mosaic dates it to the fifth century — long after Roman craftsmen and administrators had left the British Isles.


The discovery that a Roman-style mosaic in Gloucestershire is younger than hitherto thought has provided evidence that the Dark Ages in Britain were more enlightened than previously assumed.

Archaeologists studying the remains of the large mosaic at the site of a Roman villa in Chedworth, near Cheltenham, have established that it dates to the middle of the fifth century, long after the Roman Empire’s rule in the British Isles collapsed.

Historians have long believed that the departure of Rome’s legions and its administrators ushered in a new era of fragmentation and backwardness in Britain within just a few years.

But the work by the National Trust, which owns the Chedworth site, suggests that the villa continued to be occupied beyond the end of Roman rule in the fourth century and its owners retained the same taste for luxurious and sophisticated décor as their predecessors, altering one of the building’s 35 rooms and building a new mosaic no earlier than 424 AD.
(c) inews. '20
 
Spectacular find this, well remember my trip to Chedworth as a Roman Britain obsessed teenager. What? I didnt get out much...
 
Silchester archaeological dig ends after 18 years
By Andrew Bomford, BBC Radio 4's PM programme

For 18 long summers, a quiet corner of Hampshire has resounded to the sound of tapping, scraping, and sloshing. But after Saturday all that will end.

Silchester - the site of one of Britain's longest running archaeological digs - has revealed many secrets since 1997.
It's thanks to the hard work of thousands of volunteers, students and staff from Reading University that we now know much more about Iron Age life, and the early Roman period around the time of the invasion of AD 43.

"It's been a great experience," said Professor Michael Fulford, who has directed the annual summer dig from the beginning.
"It's been particularly great to see so many generations of students coming through and starting their careers here."

From the wooden walkway, erected for the hundreds of onlookers who turn up each year, you can look down on the excavation of Insula IX - the square Roman block - bounded from north-south and east-west by a 1m deep slice through old Roman roads.

Down at the Iron Age street level, about 5ft below current ground level, there are regular post holes and beam slots - the ghostly outlines of buildings long gone. Here and there are the remains of old wells - often the best places to find pottery, left there as offerings to the gods.

Prof Fulford showed me one of the most recent finds - the outline of a huge building, 50m long - the biggest example of an Iron Age house ever found in Britain.
"We've agonised about it as to what it is, but all the experts seem to agree. What else can it be but a great hall? This is unparalleled in Britain, which makes it very exciting, but it also makes it challenging because there's nothing to compare it with."

In Iron Age times Silchester was known as Calleva, and the team believe it was founded around the year 30 BC by Commius, or one of his descendants.
Commius was king of a northern French tribe called the Atrebates, based around the modern French town of Arras, in what was then known as Gaul. Commius fell out with Julius Caesar and fled to Britain.

By the time of the Roman invasion in AD 43, Calleva was a flourishing settlement; rather than establish a new base in the area, the Romans took it over, renaming it Calleva Atrebatum, and establishing their famous municipal order on the somewhat organic development of the earlier town.

...Long article, with pics...

On a more prosaic note, a regular find here are sets of tweezers, ear scoops and nail cleaners - part of a Roman soldier's toilet set, showing that when they weren't subduing the rebellious early Britons, a Roman soldier liked nothing more than to sit down and do some personal grooming. 8)

Perhaps the most famous find at Silchester though was the bronze eagle, discovered during the Victorian period, and thought for many years to be part of an Imperial Roman standard.
It inspired Rosemary Sutcliff's book The Eagle of the Ninth, recently made into the Hollywood film The Eagle. These days it's believed to have been part of a statue, perhaps to the god Jupiter.

Prof Fulford and his team believe they've just about exhausted the site, and after Saturday the whole excavation will be filled in and returned to grassland. However another dig, focusing on the Iron Age period, is due to start nearby.

It leaves one of the biggest mysteries of all unanswered. Why, after 500 years of occupation, was Calleva abandoned?
"We just don't know," said Prof Fulford.
As the Romans might have put it, about the town as well as the dig:
"Omnibus rebus bonis finis est" - all good things come to an end.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-28795656

I'm off on a hike around Roman Silchester/Calleva shortly.
Will post some pics later.
 
I cut my hike around Silchester/Calleva slightly short, as the weather wasn't that great. Spitting with rain under a tumbling sky and with extremely muddy tracks, I limited my trudge to a tour of the city walls, with a short detour to the amphitheatre. That is probably the most atmospheric location of the entire site, with archaeological evidence suggesting that gladiatorial and equestrian performances were staged there. The alcoves either side of the arena, are thought to be the entrances from which gladiators would emerge, to the cheers of a crowd of up to 7,000.
My photos include the remains of both the north and south gates. The Roman road heading towards the coast from the south gate, is where apparitions of bedraggled-looking Roman soldiers have supposedly been reported.
Inside the city walls, there is really just an expanse of grass to see, browsed by sheep, a few cows and (delightfully) some alpacas.
Silchester is just north of Basingstoke and well worth visiting. Entrance and the car park are free. Approximately 2.5 miles around the walls. Call it 3 miles if you take in the amphitheatre and St. Mary's church, which dates back to Norman times.

Photos below. Now I need to clean the mud out of the car, before picking my wife up in an hour (or my life won't be worth living).

cal1.JPGcal2.JPGcal3.JPGcal4.JPGcal5.JPGcal6.JPGcal7.JPG
 
Totally destroyed and abandoned

The destruction of a "clearly high status" Iron Age village "may represent reprisals after the Boudiccan revolt", an archaeologist has said.
More than 17 roundhouses were discovered in a defensive enclosure at Cressing, near Braintree in Essex. The site was burned down and abandoned during the late First Century AD.

"The local Trinovantes tribe joined the AD61 rebellion and after Boudicca's defeat we know the Romans punished everyone involved," said Andy Greef.

The excavation by Oxford Archaeology East ahead of a housing development began during the first lockdown and lasted eight months. The enclosure was "clearly an important place" with an "avenue-like entrance" and continued to expand after the Roman invasion in AD43, so archaeologists were surprised it was not resettled after its destruction.


https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-essex-55337814
 
I cut my hike around Silchester/Calleva slightly short, as the weather wasn't that great. Spitting with rain under a tumbling sky and with extremely muddy tracks, I limited my trudge to a tour of the city walls, with a short detour to the amphitheatre. That is probably the most atmospheric location of the entire site, with archaeological evidence suggesting that gladiatorial and equestrian performances were staged there. The alcoves either side of the arena, are thought to be the entrances from which gladiators would emerge, to the cheers of a crowd of up to 7,000.
My photos include the remains of both the north and south gates. The Roman road heading towards the coast from the south gate, is where apparitions of bedraggled-looking Roman soldiers have supposedly been reported.
Inside the city walls, there is really just an expanse of grass to see, browsed by sheep, a few cows and (delightfully) some alpacas.
Silchester is just north of Basingstoke and well worth visiting. Entrance and the car park are free. Approximately 2.5 miles around the walls. Call it 3 miles if you take in the amphitheatre and St. Mary's church, which dates back to Norman times.

Photos below. Now I need to clean the mud out of the car, before picking my wife up in an hour (or my life won't be worth living).

View attachment 32629View attachment 32630View attachment 32631View attachment 32632View attachment 32633View attachment 32634View attachment 32635
Excellent - reminds me greatly of the Ampitheatre at Caerleon on the Usk in Wales, home to the 2nd Legion. Wonder if those alpaca's speak with a Latin accent?
 
I cut my hike around Silchester/Calleva slightly short, as the weather wasn't that great. Spitting with rain under a tumbling sky and with extremely muddy tracks, I limited my trudge to a tour of the city walls, with a short detour to the amphitheatre. That is probably the most atmospheric location of the entire site, with archaeological evidence suggesting that gladiatorial and equestrian performances were staged there. The alcoves either side of the arena, are thought to be the entrances from which gladiators would emerge, to the cheers of a crowd of up to 7,000.
My photos include the remains of both the north and south gates. The Roman road heading towards the coast from the south gate, is where apparitions of bedraggled-looking Roman soldiers have supposedly been reported.
Inside the city walls, there is really just an expanse of grass to see, browsed by sheep, a few cows and (delightfully) some alpacas.
Silchester is just north of Basingstoke and well worth visiting. Entrance and the car park are free. Approximately 2.5 miles around the walls. Call it 3 miles if you take in the amphitheatre and St. Mary's church, which dates back to Norman times.

Photos below. Now I need to clean the mud out of the car, before picking my wife up in an hour (or my life won't be worth living).

View attachment 32629View attachment 32630View attachment 32631View attachment 32632View attachment 32633View attachment 32634View attachment 32635
Can you identify the animals? Not a familiar sheep in the US, and it's sitting, looks a little like a llama?
 
Can you identify the animals? Not a familiar sheep in the US, and it's sitting, looks a little like a llama?

I still think they were alpacas. Or just possibly some very young llamas.
Vicuñas and guanacos are thinner-looking animals with a less woolly coat.
 
Local estate agents would probably describe it as a substantial dwelling oozing with potential, in need of some refurbishment.

A "substantial" Roman settlement find near a villa came as a "complete surprise", the dig team has said.

Earlier excavations near Scalford, Leicestershire, found traces of a building with mosaics, wall plaster and a hypocaust heating system. Archaeologists said a survey had shown the extent of the villa but also a possible farm or village nearby.

Excavation director Rupert Birtwhistle said: "We just went with a hunch after looking at the site on Google Earth."

The villa, the precise location of which is being kept secret, was partly investigated in 2003 and 2004 but its full size was still unknown. A research group from Past to Present Archaeology went to the area last year with equipment that can detect walls and ditches underground. They wanted to map out the villa but also find the source of prehistoric stone tools discovered nearby.

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-leicestershire-56857409
 
A rather grim discovery.

A cluster of decapitated bodies discovered at a burial site were probably from victims of Roman military executions, archaeologists have said.

The "exceptionally high" number of 3rd Century decapitated bodies were found at a military supply farm settlement at Somersham, Cambridgeshire. Several were kneeling when they were struck from behind with a sword.

Archaeologist Isabel Lisboa said 33% of those found had been executed, compared to 6% in most Roman British cemeteries.

Three cemeteries were excavated revealing 52 burials, of which 17 were decapitated. At least one of those executed - an older woman found face-down - appears to have been tortured immediately before death or mutilated afterwards. Their heads were found placed at their feet or lower legs.

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-cambridgeshire-57189875
 
What did the Romans ever do for us?

The discovery of a skeleton secured at the ankles with a locked set of iron fetters is thought to be evidence of slavery in Roman Britain, experts have said.

It was found buried in a ditch in Great Casterton, Rutland, by builders working on a home extension. Archaeologists said it was the first uncovering of a burial wearing this form of restraint from that era. Analysing the remains, they called the find "internationally significant".

Archaeologists from MOLA (Museum of London Archaeology) were brought in to "expose, record and analyse" the skeleton of an adult male following its discovery in 2015.

It published its findings in the journal Britannia on Monday.

Radiocarbon dating by Leicestershire Police showed the remains date from AD226 to AD427, the team said.

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-leicestershire-57387812
 
That's an interesting point.
I have often thought this too. but I have read that they appeared to be quite careful to seal the floors and walls quite thoroughly and the gases were directed to outside through the roof and wall vents. Or maybe this really is the true cause of the decline of the Roman Empire....
 
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