‘Incredible’
archaeological site was unearthed when electricians laying cables at a
Wiltshire home exposed a mosaic
Archaeologists are exploring several sites near
Luke Irwin’s home.
It was the urge to avoid playing ping-pong in the dark that led Luke Irwin
to make one of Britain’s most extraordinary archaeological discoveries in
recent years. Without that compulsion, he might never have found out that he
lives on the site of one of the biggest Roman villas ever built in the British
Isles.
Irwin, a rug designer, and his wife had decided to convert an old barn on
their newly purchased Wiltshire property into a room where they and their
children could play table tennis, so they hired electricians to lay cables for
lights.
“The electricians originally suggested stringing up an overhead cable from
our house to supply the power for the barn, but I insisted it had to be an
underground cable,” said Irwin. It turned out to be a fateful decision.
The electricians started drilling and hit a hard layer 18 inches below the
surface. It was found to consist of pieces of mosaic. “We knew the significance
of that straight away,” added Irwin. “No one since the Romans has laid mosaics
as house floors in Britain. Fortunately we were able to stop the workmen just
before they began to wield pickaxes to break up the mosaic layer.”
Irwin called in Historic
England (formerly English Heritage), whose archaeologists confirmed
that the mosaic had formed part the floor of a grand villa built between AD175
and 220, and had been remodelled several times before the fifth century.
The Irwins’ house, created out of two labourers’ cottages, was built in the
centre of the old villa and rests on a large slab of Purbeck marble, which is
probably of Roman origin. According to the experts, the discovery is of
“national significance”.
“The rest of the site has not been touched since the house collapsed more
than 1,400 years ago, and it is unquestionably of enormous importance,” said Dr
David Roberts, an Historic England archaeologist.
An artist’s
impression of what the villa would have looked like in Roman times. Photograph:
PR
“This is a hugely valuable site with incredible potential. The discovery of
such an elaborate and extraordinarily well-preserved villa, undamaged by
agriculture for over 1,500 years, is unparalleled in recent years and it gives
us a perfect opportunity to understand Roman and post-Roman Britain.”
It is believed that the three-storey structure, which would have dominated
the valley, was similar to that found at Chedworth,
one of Britain’s most important Roman villa sites. It is thought to have
belonged to a family of extraordinary wealth and importance. “It is not just
the size of the building – which is vast – but the other discoveries that we
have made that reveal what a special place this must have been,” said Roberts.
“We have found discarded oyster and whelk shells. To keep them fresh, they must
have been brought in barrels of salt water from the sea, which is miles away,
and that shows just how rich the villa’s owners must have been.
Other discoveries have included a perfectly preserved Roman well and the
stone coffin of a Roman child. This had been used to hold geraniums until its
significance was realised. Only a few test pits have been dug, but Roberts said
it was clear the walls of the villa were probably still more than a metre high,
although they are buried under alluvial sediment from a nearby river. In
addition, the mosaic has been revealed to be of particularly high quality.
“Everything about this villa suggests it was made of the highest-quality
materials,” added Roberts. “We have identified bits of stone that have come
from at least 13 different British quarries. This was the country house of a
powerful, rich Roman. Doubtless he also had a city house in London or
Cirencester.”
Intriguingly, the house was not destroyed after the collapse of the Roman
empire, said Roberts. Archaeologists have discovered timber structures erected
in the fifth century. Roberts said the remains from this period, between the
end of Roman occupation and the completion of Saxon domination of England,
could open a window into one of the least understood periods in British
history. It could also reveal how people responded to the collapse of the Roman
empire, the superpower of the age.
However, it is the sense of continuity that has affected Irwin. “Some of
the oyster shells we have found have not been touched by another human for more
than 1,500 years and now we have uncovered them lying around our house. It is a
very powerful feeling,” said Irwin
http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/apr/17/amazing-find-roman-villa
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