A prosperous Roman trade village was unearthed half a metre beneath the surface of a lonely field in Northamptonshire, whose occupants wore beautiful jewellery and ate from good ceramics.
At the site, 80 archaeologists have been working for the past 12 months and have discovered a 10-metre-wide Roman road, household and industrial structures, more than 300 coins, and at least four wells.
The field, on the boundary of Northamptonshire and Oxfordshire, is on the proposed HS2 train line between London and Birmingham. It is one of more than 100 archaeological sites explored along the road since 2018, and it is one of the most significant discoveries so far.
Until the archaeological excavation began, the site near Chipping Warden, known as Blackgrounds after its rich black dirt that helped preserve the Roman ruins, was used for grazing. ‘When the land became used for grazing, the soil effectively sealed what was beneath’, said James West, of Mola Headland Infrastructure, which has managed the excavation.
The existence of an ancient site in the region has been known since the 18th century, but the discoveries made during the dig much beyond the expectations of specialists. At the time of the Roman invasion in AD43, an iron age settlement consisting of more than 30 roundhouses stood on the site. The village flourished and became richer under Roman rule, which lasted until AD410.
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New stone structures were built in the settlement’s household, agricultural, and industrial sections. Archaeologists discovered evidence of workshops and kilns in the latter, where activities like as metallurgy, bread-making, and ceramics were carried out.
The town was a commerce centre, with carts coming and going to load and unload goods, according to the main route, which West characterised as a Roman dual highway. The Roman roads were 4-5 metres wide and another commerce route to and from the village was the adjacent River Cherwell.
The black soil also yielded delicately decorated jewellery, glass vessels, and beautiful Samian pottery brought from Gaul. Traces of the mineral galena – lead sulphide – which was crushed and combined with oil for use as makeup have been detected as evidence of cosmetics.
Half a set of shackles was discovered, which were assumed to be evidence of criminal behaviour or slave labour. Almost the last three years, over 1,000 archaeologists have worked along the HS2 corridor between London and the West Midlands.
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