Category: Romans in Britain

Moles Working Epiacum’s Roman Fort?

~ David Meadows ~ rogueclassicist ~ Leave a comment

From the BBC:

Epiacum is a site full of buried treasure, which no-one can reach – no-one human at least.

Near Alston in Cumbria, close to the Northumberland border, where now there are fields, there was once a thriving Roman fort.

Unfortunately for archaeologists, they cannot access any of the historic artefacts beneath the ground – because the site is a scheduled ancient monument.

Moles, however, pay no heed to the land’s protected status.

The velvety creatures have not only been digging up the earth, but doing their bit for archaeology by inadvertently pushing ancient objects to the surface.

Paul Frodsham, an archaeologist with the North Pennines Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB), runs a project called Altogether Archaeology, which has signed up 500 volunteers to take part in digs under professional supervision.

Fifty of those have taken part in an effort to sift through the molehills at Epiacum and keep a record of what the animals dig up and where.

“I realise it sounds a bit ridiculous, but it’s actually quite serious,” Mr Frodsham said.

“We look at all the finds and we work out what’s going on in different parts off the fort and different kinds of pottery tell us what dates different buildings are.”

He stressed the work must be done with the permission of English Heritage.

As well as fragments of pottery and glass, the moles have dragged up some attractive and intact artefacts.

A molehill recently pushed up a piece of Samian ware – a type of brown pottery common on Roman sites – thought to be a stand for a vase or bowl, or possibly an egg cup.

Last year they discovered a jet bead and a decorative bronze dolphin.

Elaine Edgar, who with her husband owns a farm on the land, is trying to promote the site as a tourist attraction as part of an 18-month project, funded by a £49,000 lottery grant.

Mrs Edgar said she had run a series of events as part of the project, which had attracted higher than expected numbers and she had received “fantastic support”.

But she expressed mixed feelings about the subterranean creatures that were playing their own part.

“Moles are the bane of landowners’ lives,” she said.
Volunteers sifting through molehills Volunteers have been sifting through molehills to locate hidden artefacts

“They’re up there all the time digging away on the land and my husband generally wants to get rid of them.”

For the time being though, they are serving an important purpose.

“I’d like them to uncover as much as they can for the foreseeable future, until we can hopefully do an organised dig somewhere on the fort,” Mrs Edgar said.

“We’re looking towards our bigger vision, which is to establish a fully-fledged visitor centre on the farm.”
‘Spectacular’

The fort dates back to about the 2nd Century AD, when it is thought the Romans wanted to control lead and silver mining in the north of England.

The Romans maintained a military presence there until the 4th Century, when they seem to have abandoned the fort.

A recent English Heritage survey also revealed there was an extensive civilian settlement, or vicus, beyond the ramparts.

There have only been two recorded digs of Epiacum, in about 1810 and 1957, covering small areas of the 100-sq-m site.

Despite such limited excavation, the foundations of the Roman buildings are still visible.

There are four rings of earthwork defences, which Mr Frodsham described as “spectacular”.

“From that point of view, it’s one of the best-preserved forts anywhere in the empire,” he said.

But, it seems, only the moles know the true extent of its treasures.

Just for the record, the BBC was kind of slow to pick this story up … the Journal had it three or four weeks ago (Moles at Epiacum). I only bring it up again because it seems kind of strange how the moles are being ‘credited’ in this (and the Journal) piece while years ago, badgers were just messing things up, but doing the same basic thing (links in the Journal piece). I guess archaeologists find moles a bit more cuddly or something …

Africans in Roman Britain

~ David Meadows ~ rogueclassicist ~ 1 Comment

Saw this in something called The Voice:

AN INTERACTIVE website for children highlighting the diversity of Roman Britain will be launched tomorrow in a bid to challenge lessons on the current history curriculum.

The Romans Revealed project – a collaboration between race equality think tank the Runnymede Trust and archaeologists from the University of Reading – will be officially launched at the Museum of London on April 25.

It will act as a learning resource for teachers and parents to show children about a lesser-known side of the historical period.

The interactive website allows children to ‘dig up’ graves and read stories by children’s author Caroline Lawrence told from the perspective of four people living in Roman Britain.

It follows a research project from the university, A Long Way Home: Diaspora Communities in Roman Britain, which examined over 150 skeletons to find out about patterns of migration.

Dr Hella Eckardt, senior lecturer in Roman Archaeology at the University of Reading, said: “Our analysis of excavated skeletal remains of people living in Roman Britain such as the ‘Ivory Bangle Lady’ and others like her show that multicultural Britain is not just a phenomenon of more modern times.”

By analysing skeletons facial features, skull measurements, the chemical signature of food and drink and burial goods, archaeologists were able to learn more about Roman times and migrants of African descent who came to Britain.

The ‘Ivory Bangle Lady’ was a high status young woman of North African descent who remains were buried in Roman York (Sycamore Terrace).

Dated to the second half of the 4th Century, her grave contained jet and elephant ivory bracelets, earrings, pendants, beads, a blue glass jug and a glass mirror.

Dr Debbie Weekes-Bernard, who is leading the Romans Revealed outreach project, said: “The University of Reading research results showed that people came to Britain from many different parts of the Roman Empire, including North Africa. In some of the larger towns like York and Winchester, up to 20 per cent of the Roman Britain population may be classed as ‘non-local’ or ‘incomers’.

“This research is really important, providing evidence to challenge the current curriculum as taught in schools and highlighting the diversity of Roman Britain.”

According to the National Archives, the official archive for the UK Government, people of African descent have had a presence in Britain for the past 2,000 years.

In Roman times, black troops were sent to the ‘remote and barbaric’ province of Britannia – the ancient term for Great Britain – with many settling permanently even after the Roman legions left.

via: Children’s website tells stories of Roman Britain’s Africans (The Voice)

… you can check out the Romans Revealed website here … if you’re interested in some of the finds which probably contributed to this project:

I know there was something (at rogueclassicism) involving a burial of an African woman in Britain that was also connected with Caroline Lawrence (i.e. she wrote about it too), but my search engine divinities appear to have gone to visit the blameless Ethiopians or something …

Roman Wall in Bath (maybe)

~ David Meadows ~ rogueclassicist ~ Leave a comment

The incipit of an item in the Bath Chronicle:

Engineers have uncovered part of what could be a Roman wall while carrying out emergency sewer repairs in Bath city centre.

Wessex Water was carrying out work to repair a sewer in Burton Street last week when a large Bath stone block was discovered, nearly three feet below the pavement.

Further investigations by the Bath-based company and archaeologists from specialist firm Context One revealed that the block was part of a stone wall which dates back to the fourth century.

The wall, which was built as a defensive structure, consists of five blocks of Bath stone and is thought to form part of the buttress of the original city wall.

While no dating evidence has been recovered, toolmarks on the stone suggest it was originally worked in Roman times. […]

LiDAR Sheds New Light on Hadrian’s Wall

~ David Meadows ~ rogueclassicist ~ Leave a comment

Pardon the groaner in that headline … this is actually hype for a television programme on the BBC but it looks rather interesting:

Hundreds of miles away from Hadrian’s Wall, a man surfing the internet from the comfort of his home stumbled across something that astonished the professionals.

Bryn Gethin’s discovery on his computer in Warwickshire, was one of a number, based on aerial photography and imaging techniques, that are rewriting a whole era of Roman history.

He spotted something while browsing old LIDAR (light detection and ranging) images, which show remains even if covered by trees or buildings.

Experts say he had potentially discovered the camp of the men who actually built the wall that runs across the country from Tyneside to Cumbria.

Surveyor Humphrey Welfare, currently investigating the site, said the camp would not have been seen without aerial images.

“It gives us another little insight, a little window into what happened during the construction of the wall,” he said.

“And that’s how archaeology builds up, piece by piece.”

It was known the wall supported civilian communities which provided goods and services in a local economy that benefitted both occupiers and natives.

But it seems there were Iron Age settlements hundreds of years before the arrival of the Romans who, rather than being an aggressive conquering force, forged working relationships with the resident population.

‘Whole new world’

“What we thought we saw was a very militaristic landscape, very sparsely populated and all we saw was what survived at the surface,” said Dr David Woolliscroft from Liverpool University.

“Then suddenly, when we started to fly, a whole new world emerged. Huge numbers – tens of thousands – of isolated farms, completely undefended.

“You can only have a landscape like that when people are so used to peace that they take it for granted.

“And that utterly changes the story of how we see the Romans.”

There is also evidence, discovered from the air, that throws into doubt the accepted belief that the wall was a barrier between the empire and the barbarian north.

Aerial pictures of a Roman aqueduct show it built north of the wall and right next to a native settlement.

“That shows a comfort in their own security and power, in that they’re happy for something as important as a water resource to be placed north of the frontier,” Dave Macleod, from English Heritage aerial survey team, said.

Aerial archaeologist Ben Robinson uncovers new revelations about life on Hadrian’s Wall in Northumberland

“You don’t put your water supply into enemy hands,” Dr Woolliscroft agreed. “Clearly they were very confident that this was an area that was theirs, even though it was beyond the wall.”

The area around Hadrian’s Wall has been mapped from the air by English Heritage but amateur research has also thrown up some surprising findings.

Ancient camps, ovens, rubbish pits and ditches show up from the air as crop marks, where plants grow differently – often invisible from the ground.

Work on Emperor Hadrian’s wall began in 122AD.

Archaeologists believed soldiers had settled in a nearby fort – Vindolanda – from about 85AD.

But another photograph shows something Dr Andrew Birley from the Vindolanda Trust believes is a fort built ten years earlier, 50 years before the wall.

“As we started excavating the ditches we were getting more and more evidence to suggest that this actually could pre-date anything on this part of the site that we’d previously known about,” he said.

If they find the timber fort gates – and it might take years – the rings on the wood could lead conclusively to a construction date.

It might prove the Romans established their frontier long before the history books currently say.

… the original article includes some photos and some Flash media which I couldn’t get to work because Flash seem to be doing weird things these past couple of days.

Roman Temple at Sudeley Castle?

~ David Meadows ~ rogueclassicist ~ Leave a comment

From the Echo:

ARCHAEOLOGISTS believe there could be an undiscovered Roman temple and villa in the grounds of Sudeley Castle.

A Roman column which was found propping open a door inside the castle has sparked hopes there are historic ruins beneath the grounds.

Professor Martin Henig believes the column, which would have been around 40cm high, would most likely have stood on the dwarf wall of a portico in a temple or private house.

He said the small columns were unusual in this region, and indicated the existence of a building of unusual sophistication in or around Sudeley.

Archaeologists are now calling for a full-scale investigation at Stancombe Wood in Winchcombe.

It follows the find of a stone relief of a Cotswolds Roman god, called Cunomaglos or the Hound Prince.

The sculpture was first discovered at Stancombe Wood in 1875 and was catalogued by Sudeley chatelaine Emma Dent in her book The Annals of Winchcombe and Sudeley.

But all trace of the sculpture was lost until it was rediscovered last month.

It was rediscovered by Sudeley archivist Jean Bray in the bottom of a cupboard at the castle, but its identity remained unknown until archaeologist Dr Patricia Witts solved the mystery.

Prof Henig, an expert on the Romans in the Cotswolds, believes that the statue, which dates from 150AD to 300AD, points to a further undiscovered temple at Stancombe Wood.

“It is the sort of relief that one would expect to find in a temple, probably dedicated by a worshipper there,” he said.

“We are finding that villas quite often included temples on the estate and our Apollo Cunomaglos suggests that there may be more to be discovered at Stancombe.”

Dr Witts says there is evidence that when an oil pipeline was installed in the area in 1985 it cut through two Roman buildings. The site would lie between Stancombe Wood and Spoonley Wood.

“We can imagine the area around what is now Sudeley Castle dotted with prestigious Roman dwellings,” she said.

“It is exciting to think what might be found.

“The famous Chedworth Roman villa lies only a few miles to the south of Sudeley and it is known that there was a temple nearby, as well as other villas in the vicinity. Perhaps Sudeley was similar.”

This story actually broke a couple of weeks ago on the BBC (when I had limited internet access, alas): Roman artefact discovered in Sudeley Castle cupboard … there’s a brief discussion of the Apollo Cunomaglos name at one of the entries in the Curse Tablets of Roman Britain site …