Archaeological Evidence Points To Landing Site Of Caesar's Invasion Of Britain

[guy]

 

Somehow I missed this interesting find from November 2017:

 

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/nov/29/caesars-invasion-of-britain-began-from-pegwell-bay-in-kent-say-archaeologists

 

Quote

Julius Caesar’s invasion of Britain was launched from the sandy shores of Pegwell Bay on the most easterly tip of Kent, according to fresh evidence unearthed by archaeologists.

Researchers named the wide, shallow bay the most likely landing spot for the Roman fleet after excavators found the remains of a defensive base dating to the first century BC in the nearby hamlet of Ebbsfleet, near Ramsgate.

 

(Picture caption: Thanet had never been considered a possible landing site because it was separated from the mainland until the Middle Ages.)

Quote

The landing site for Julius Caesar’s invasion of Britain more than 2,000 years ago has been identified for the first time – in Kent.

His ships arrived at Pegwell Bay on the Isle of Thanet at the north east point of the county, a spot never previously suspected because it was separated from the mainland.

 

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/julius-caesar-invasion-britain-uk-site-evidence-first-discovered-kent-a8081056.html

 

 

 

Edited November 14, 2021 by guy

[indianasmith]

This is a very cool discovery!  Someday I want to visit all of Caesar's haunts - from Rome itself to this landing site to the fields at Pharsalus and Alesium, where his greatest victories were won.  Just to stand where the great man stood and fought and lived and died would be a crowning experience for me!

[caldrail]

I think we often forget how much the coastline changes around Britain. The white cliffs of Dover (mentioned by Cicero in his letters) have eroded around a kilometre inland since Caesar's time. Beaches have come and gone, harbours built and lost, and so forth. Finding a historical landing point isn't something I would have thought was a simple exercise unless you're lucky to be talking about an area that hasn't changed much and has reliable and generous information. Let's be honest, whilst the Romans left a great of writing for us, they rarely go into much detail about their subjects.

[guy]

On 2/19/2018 at 2:34 AM, caldrail said:

I think we often forget how much the coastline changes around Britain. The white cliffs of Dover (mentioned by Cicero in his letters) have eroded around a kilometre inland since Caesar's time. Beaches have come and gone, harbours built and lost, and so forth. 

Well put. I think we are guilty of failing to realize how much of the environment throughout the Roman Empire has changed.

Right now I'm reading "The Fate of Rome: Climate, Disease, and the End of an Empire" by Kyle Harper. I found this quote interesting: "On Ptolemy's testimony, it rained in Roman Alexandria every month of the year but August. Today there is about one day of rain from May to September, inclusive." This would explain how today's Egyptian desert was once the breadbasket of the Roman Empire.

 

 

guy also known as gaius

Edited February 22, 2018 by guy

[caldrail]

Indeed, but that region had long been variable. Ramses the Great had moved his captal from Thebes to a city on the eastern branch of the Nile Delta, called Pi-Ramesses. Around a century or two after he died, the city was in trouble because the waterway it was built on had silted up and the water taken another course. It transpires that the populace moved their city, stone by stone, to a new site at Tanis - which also went dry only this time the city was abandoned.

[john1565]

Thanks for sharing. Bookmarked! (couldn't give like as my quota has been finished for today)

Edited February 23, 2018 by john1565