Time Team

[Maximus]

Just to give an update, the mine excavation has been closed down due to the high toxicity of the site. The Welsh excavation has found two forts on top of each other with the earlier being the largest also the two forts are facing in different alignments. They have also discovered a viccas just outside the fort. After the abandonment of the fort, the local people used the fort to bury their dead after cremation. This is why they found a whole cremation jar intact.

 

They are also trying to excavate a possible river crossing. The problem is, they do not know whether there was a bridge or just a pull along ferry. They are finding the latter to be much nearer the truth although there could be a jetty of sorts.

 

I will post mor tomorrow.

[Maximus]

Thursdays TT showed a unique find from the Somerset site. This was a carbonised step part of a door frame that divided one room from another. They also found air vents constructed within the walls of the villa allowing hot air to travel underneath the floor and up the walls to make a hot room. Underneath the hypocaust system they found a drain with fresh water running under the villa which they believed was quite unusual in this country.

 

The river site was closed on Wednesday mainly due to them not being able to establish what was going on. They are not always perfect!!!

 

Some of the finds from a different site, can't remember which one, included wall plaster of bright red and blue with a possible white ceiling. Also they discovered a piece of wall or ceiling plaster which was mounted on a stud wall with a piece of stud still attached. At this site they also found fragments of a drinking glass with a Roman Gladiator scratched on the front using flint and shaded in the middle of the figure.

 

If you want more then visit www.channel4.com/romanbigdig

[longbow]

a carbonised step part of a door frame

 

He got incredibly excited about that

[Maximus]

Yes but I am sure I would have felt the same as it is so rare to see it. What do you think of the item that got voted the best item from museums around the country?

[Maximus]

Oh by the way Time Team has finished now. In the end the Somerset excavation revealed that the dining room was divided into two rooms with a main reception area with an elegant mosaic and a small inner room where they could dine in a more intimate way, this was also decorated with a mosaic but in my opinion this mosaic was not as grand.

 

There was an excavation just beyond the Antonine Wall and they actually found a tile with the Leg II Aug name inscribed onto it, suggesting that the Second Augustan Legion was partly responsible for the contruction of the wall.

 

There was also another site (can't remember the name), where they already knew that there was a series of forts and viccas, but during the excavation, they found that the viccas actually extended right up the fort during the middle half of the Roman occupation.

 

All in all, I certainly learnt some things that I did not know. Did anyone else learn anything interesting? If so, I would like to know.

[longbow]

Yeah, i learnt a lot of new things from the show,unfortunatly i missed the last episode i did ask our lass to tape it but she messed it up . I learnt that the Romans pushed well into Wales,i allways thought they never bothered with Wales.And the excavations around the Antonine wall with the civilian town just outside the gates! i figured the Romans around that area were allways fighting it out with the Celts,but apparently they werent.

What do you think of the item that got voted the best item from museums around the country?

 

What was it?

 

personnaly i like the Vindolanda Tablets ,i like them because they give us a lot of Information about the normal Roman man.

L

[Maximus]

Well you have got good taste. The best item was the vindolanda tablets. Although I thought that the pot of face cream was quite exciting, especially as they learnt quite a lot from it.