Major new archaeological discovery! 6/7/00
A large new bathhouse at Vindolanda has been discovered. Roughly twice the size of the bathhouse already on display, and dated to around AD 100, the discovery of this new building came as a surprise to the archaeologists. The building lies to the south of the site, perched on the edge of the valley, outside the southern defences of the late stone fort. Built for the early timber forts at Vindolanda by the auxiliary garrisons, the structure was constructed to bathe a thousand men.
The building had been systematically demolished during the late second century, with much of the superstructure removed for the construction of another bathhouse. What has been left behind leaves us in little doubt about the splendour of the architecture used. The Roman concrete remains incredibly strong, and over 1.5 tons of brick and tile have been removed from the site for analysis, including 200 animal prints, ranging from cats and dogs to deer.
Excavation will now be concentrating on the series of fort ditches to the south of the late fort wall, which are already starting to produce more leather.
A special thanks to the volunteers we have had along
this season for their great efforts.
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We have just completed the first month of the 2000 Excavations - in the wettest April ever recorded in Britain!
The western half of the southern fort wall is still standing to a height of nearly two metres, but the Romans themselves had problems with the eastern half, and most of it has collapsed. We will soon be moving to the south, to examine the ditches outside the walls. |
Inside the south western corner of the fort, the major discovery has been another of the stone-built circular huts, lying below the later buildings of Stone Fort 2. A dozen or more such huts have been found at the north end of the fort site, and two more were found underneath the Commanding Officer's Residence. They date to the short-lived Severan period, when the Emperor led a major expedition to the North of Britain to put down a revolt by the tribes near the Edinburgh region. It is possible that the Romans built these native-style dwellings at Vindolanda to house the friendly farmers from north of the Wall, threatened by the revolt.
In the picture right, archaeologist Andrew Birley works on the doorway of the hut.
Another mystery must now be tackled, hopefully in better weather. Below the circular hut the excavators have found substantial remains of another Roman turf rampart, still standing to a height of 1.4 metres - but it does not equate with any of the known fort defences. Was one of the pre-Hadrianic forts reduced in size at some stage? Hopefully, we will have the answers by mid-summer.
The Interim Report on the 1999 Excavations is now printing, and should be available by the middle of May. It includes details of the fort latrine in the SE corner, and the sub-Roman structures in the SW corner. Also, just published at £5.95, Robin Birley's new booklet, Civilians on the Northern Frontier. |
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With excavations continuing, there is always something new to see, and the archaeologists are always at hand to answer any questions they can to make a visit to Vindolanda a truly enjoyable experience.
