First evidence of a Roman villa in Ceredigion?

[Melvadius]

Wales online report the discovery of arcaheological evidence for a Roman villa in mid-Wales an area long believed to have primarily been a military area rather than civilian. I would like ot have seen the magnetometry result but from the description it does sound like a form of building which is often described as a 'villa' even if in some instances the actual function is not always as clearly defined as agricultureal or even civilian.

 

'The discovery of a villa in Ceredigion suggests that Roman settlements may have spread deeper into Wales than previously thought.

 

Archeologists working for the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales, in Aberystwyth, believe they have discovered first Roman villa in the county at Trawsgoed Roman fort, now buried beneath Trawsgoed estate.

 

Archaeologist Dr Toby Driver said it was a significant discovery, because Roman villas are unknown in that part of the country and very rare in south-west Wales.

 

 

[JGolomb]

Wales online report the discovery of arcaheological evidence for a Roman villa in mid-Wales an area long believed to have primarily been a military area rather than civilian. I would like ot have seen the magnetometry result but from the description it does sound like a form of building which is often described as a 'villa' even if in some instances the actual function is not always as clearly defined as agricultureal or even civilian.

Here's another story and a video...but the video is only available to folks in the UK.

 

J

[Melvadius]

Wales online report the discovery of arcaheological evidence for a Roman villa in mid-Wales an area long believed to have primarily been a military area rather than civilian. I would like ot have seen the magnetometry result but from the description it does sound like a form of building which is often described as a 'villa' even if in some instances the actual function is not always as clearly defined as agricultureal or even civilian.

Here's another story and a video...but the video is only available to folks in the UK.

 

J

 

The first 9 minutes or so of the programme are devoted to this find, with the more telling discussion coming at the end when Richard Brewer raises the possibility (as I previously suggested) that rather than a 'classical' villa, this may have been an administrative building associated with Roman mining activities in the area. Lead and silver as well as copper seem to have been mined nearby in the Roman period and administrative buildings have been identified or suspected in a number of other areas including the Weald of Kent, where for a period there was a major Roman metal smelting operation under the control of the Classis Britannica.

 

For this reason one of the issues arcaheologists have to be aware of when initially investigating any similarly sized Roman building is that without excavation it is usually impossible to determine if it was purely a rural residence or if it could have had any number of other functions including religious, farming or as now suggested a mining related.

 

N.B. 'classic' villa's intended to be solely residential are actually not as common as items in the press may lead people to believe. Many of the sites investigated in recent years have either been shown to be multifunctional or at least have had changes of use throughout their periods of occupation.

Edited November 19, 2009 by Melvadius