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2010 Excavations 2008 Excavations 2007 Excavations Amphitheatre Excavations 1909 & 1926

Archaeology at CAERLEON 2010 - Priory Field Dig Photos - Week 5

Tuesday September 7th
Notice the tent over room 2 where Dr Andrew Gardner records they are "revealing a scatter of military equipment. This seems to include some highly corroded iron objects which may have been scrapped and abandoned, and then fallen onto the floor. As well as being intrinsically interesting, the way the finds have come to rest should tell us a lot about the history of this room." See the Dig Blog September 7th.

In the Dig Blog Dr Peter Guest reports that the deposits in rooms 1 and 2 "are producing large quantities of finds, especially iron and copper alloy objects as well as pottery and animal bone. The metal artefacts include some fabulous examples of Roman military equipment, such as scabbard chapes, belt plates, strap-ends and harness pendants, together with large lumps of iron which may need to be lifted in blocks and excavated later in the conservation laboratories. The coins we are finding still include later 3rd and 4th century bronze issues, but now we are beginning to recover more early coins including several silver denarii of the 1st and 2nd centuries. So, after almost 10 weeks of digging in 2008 and 2010 we are firmly within the Roman period and revealing lots of new information about Caerleon almost 2,000 years ago – amazing!" September 7th.

Heavy drizzle closed in. The lucky ones were in the tent over room 2 - they were dry and recovering interesting finds! September 9th.

This black layer appears to run under the whole of the northern section. Could it be related to the initial clearing of the site or maybe destruction of the wooden buildings to be replaced by stone? September 9th.

Room 2 - with tent removed. Among the amazing finds in this room were what may amount to several items of armour (see photo on the finds page). The room has been excavated in 4 rectangular pits. The remaining dividing, unexcavated, parts are left so that the archaeologists have a visual record (as well as the ongoing records kept) of the different layers of activity.

 

 | Back to report |  Week 1 photos | Week 2 photos | Week 3 photos | Week 4 photos | Week 5 photos| Finds |

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