History buffs on 2,000-year-old Roman road discovery near Evesham

History buffs have shared their thoughts on a possible Roman road found near Evesham. Severn Trent workmen came across what some believe to be a nearly 2,000-year-old ford when completing sewerage works several weeks ago.

Aidan Smyth, the archaeology advisor for Wychavon District Council, thinks it could have global significance and now history fans from around Worcestershire have weighed in on the discovery.

Paul Harding, who runs Discovery History with his wife Helen, thinks it could put Evesham ‘on the map’.

He said: “The recent find of a possible Roman Ford in Worcestershire is really exciting.

“A surviving Roman Ford is extremely rare in what was once the Roman Empire.

“It looks like a well-made Roman road surface and may have taken over from an earlier trackway or route that the Britons were using before the Romans.

“We had simple roads before the Romans, and these sometimes followed traditional routes.

“This will put the area on the archaeological map and allow for further study in this kind of structure.”

Richard Ball, trustee at Vale of Evesham Historic Society, is equally enthused about the discovery.

He said: “There are some traces of Roman times in the Vale but in general these are few and far between, and this is by far the most important that has been found for a long time.

“I am hopeful that Aidan Smyth and his archaeology team will have an opportunity to examine it thoroughly and expect that the VEHS will wish to keep on close touch with developments and help in any way appropriate.”

Meanwhile, metal detectorist Stephen Grey is no stranger to uncovering the area’s history, having dug up a ‘Viking’ axe just a few weeks ago himself.

He said: “It could well be Roman as there’s been plenty of Roman items found by archaeologists and metal detectorists in the area.

“I myself have found a first-century silver roman coin albeit closer to Pershore but that does prove the Romans were in the general area at that time.

“I’ve also found a second-century Roman brooch much nearer to the site.

“If it proves to be a first-century Roman road leading into a ford, I think that’s very exciting.

“I know the experts are hoping it is and if true they seem to think it’s fairly unique in this country.”

UK’s oldest human DNA obtained, revealing two distinct Palaeolithic populations

Published today in Nature Ecology and Evolution, the new study by UCL Institute of Archaeology, the Natural History Museum and the Francis Crick Institute researchers reveals for the first time that the recolonisation of Britain consisted of at least two groups with distinct origins and cultures.

The study team explored DNA evidence from an individual from Gough’s Cave, Somerset, and an individual from Kendrick’s Cave, North Wales, who both lived more than 13,500 years ago. Very few skeletons of this age exist in Britain, with around a dozen found across six sites in total. The study, which involved radiocarbon dating and analysis as well as DNA extraction and sequencing, shows that it is possible to obtain useful genetic information from some of the oldest human skeletal material in the country.

The authors say that these genome sequences now represent the earliest chapter of the genetic history of Britain, but ancient DNA and proteins promise to take us back even further into human history.

The researchers found that the DNA from the individual from Gough’s Cave, who died about 15,000 years ago, indicates that her ancestors were part of an initial migration into northwest Europe around 16,000 years ago. However, the individual from Kendrick’s Cave is from a later period, around 13,500 years ago, with his ancestry from a western hunter-gatherer group. This group’s ancestral origins are thought to be from the near East, migrating to Britain around 14,000 years ago.

Study co-author Dr Mateja Hajdinjak (Francis Crick Institute) said: “Finding the two ancestries so close in time in Britain, only a millennium or so apart, is adding to the emerging picture of Palaeolithic Europe, which is one of a changing and dynamic population.”

The authors note that these migrations occurred after the last ice age when approximately two-thirds of Britain was covered by glaciers. As the climate warmed and the glaciers melted, drastic ecological and environmental changes took place and humans began to move back into northern Europe.

Study co-author Dr Sophy Charlton, who undertook the study whilst at the Natural History Museum, said: “The period we were interested in, from 20-10,000 years ago, is part of the Palaeolithic – the Old Stone Age. This is an important time period for the environment in Britain, as there would have been significant climate warming, increases in the amount of forest, and changes in the type of animals available to hunt.”

As well as genetically, the two groups were found to be culturally distinct, with differences in what they ate and how they buried their dead.

Study co-author Dr Rhiannon Stevens (UCL Institute of Archaeology) said: “Chemical analyses of the bones showed that the individuals from Kendrick’s Cave ate a lot of marine and freshwater foods, including large marine mammals.

“Humans at Gough’s Cave, however, showed no evidence of eating marine and freshwater foods, and primarily ate terrestrial herbivores such as red deer, bovids (such as wild cattle called aurochs) and horses.”

The researchers discovered that the mortuary practices of the two groups also differed. Although there were animal bones found at Kendrick’s Cave, these included portable art items, such as a decorated horse jawbone. No animal bones were found that showed evidence of being eaten by humans, and the scientists say that this indicates the cave was used as a burial site by its occupiers.

In contrast, animal and human bones found in Gough’s Cave showed significant human modification, including human skulls modified into ‘skull-cups’, which the researchers believe to be evidence of ritualistic cannibalism. Individuals from this earlier population seem to be the same people who created the Magdalenian stone tools, a culture known also for iconic cave art and bone artefacts.

Gough’s Cave is also the site where Britain’s famous Cheddar Man was discovered in 1903, dated to 10,564-9,915 years BP. In this study, Cheddar Man was found to have a mixture of ancestries, mostly (85%) western hunter-gatherers and some (15%) of the older type from the initial migration.

Co-author Dr Selina Brace (Natural History Museum) said: “We really wanted to find out more about who these early populations in Britain might have been.

“We knew from our previous work, including the study of Cheddar Man, that western hunter-gatherers were in Britain by around 10,500 years BP, but we didn’t know when they first arrived in Britain, and whether this was the only population that was present.”

1,700-Year-Old Roman Villa Complex Identified By Archaeologists Using Google Earth Images in England

Using Google Earth images, archaeologists identified a Roman villa complex—complete with a bathhouse and central heating system—in Kent, England last month.

Crop markings captured by Google outlined the linear features of the site.

The wall foundations of the main villa, in addition to a pillar from the partially intact hypocaust, or Roman central heating system, were excavated by the Kent Archaeological Society with volunteers from the local community.

The hypocaust system would have been used to circulate heat through the walls and floors of an adjacent bathhouse.

“There are many villas spread across Kent, but the fact there’s a hypocaust system remaining is rare.

Operating a hypocaust was expensive, requiring a constant supply of fuels – firewood – and a workforce to operate it,” site director Richard Taylor told local publication KentOnline.

The presence of this kind of system suggests that the inhabitants would have been high-status farmers, as a hypocaust is typically limited to wealthy villas and public villas.

Additionally uncovered were several artefacts such as an amphora-shaped belt adornment dating to ca. 375 C.E., a small Roman-British key, two 4th-century C.E. coins, pottery, and wall plaster from the main villa.

After dating these objects, the team estimates that the villa dates to the 3rd or 4th century C.E.; these Roman-British farmers, however, would not have been the first residents in the area.

The nearby site Coldrum Long Barrow dates to roughly 3900 B.C.E., indicating that the land was likely being farmed for thousands of years prior to the villa’s construction.

“This suggests a continuity of settlement in the area that goes back c.5000 years, which is not surprising given its idyllic location and agricultural potential,” Taylor continued. “The villa is like just one episode in a much greater time frame.”

New Thoughts on Fish Consumption in Iron Age Britain

A woman who lived in Orkney 1,800 years ago had a diet that was unusually rich in seafood, say archaeologists. Very little evidence has been found of fish being consumed in Iron Age Britain, despite the abundance of marine life, according to the UHI Archaeology Institute.

Possible reasons for this may have included social restrictions or taboos around eating seafood.

Experts at the institute have been involved in analysing a tooth from a woman’s jawbone that was uncovered during excavations at The Cairns in South Ronaldsay.

The bone appeared to have been carefully placed inside a container made from a whale vertebra, and studies of the tooth have revealed the woman had eaten “fish suppers” all through her life.

Archaeologists suggest she may have had a special role or status and have nicknamed her The Elder.

The UHI Archaeology Institute has been working with the University of York and the British Geological Survey’s National Environmental Isotope Facility in analysing the tooth.

The studies have involved looking at layers of dentine laid down over time as the tooth grew, and of dietary isotopes – evidence of foods – embedded in those layers.

Archaeologists said the tooth was sampled multiple times when the woman was estimated to have been three, seven, nine, 11, 13 and 15 years old.

The results showed seafood had been a fairly consistent part of her diet during her childhood.

Earlier analysis had already shown she was eating fish towards the end of her life.

Martin Carruthers, site director of The Cairns excavations and a lecturer in archaeology at the UHI Archaeology Institute, said: “It’s remarkable to be able to reach back and solve a problem like the question over her diet, which was previously unclear.

“Now we can see that the marine foodstuffs that she ate were after all a normal part of life for her, and this allows us to move on with the further investigation of the mystery over the apparent lack of seafood in Iron Age society at this time.”

Pesticides May Have Contributed to Corrosion on Roman Bowl

A corroded Roman bowl dated almost 2,000 years old contains traces of a modern chemical once used in pesticides.

The study highlights that soil polluted with chlorobenzenes may pose a continuing threat to the preservation of archaeological material still in the ground.

The chemicals are synthetic compounds that can be toxic at high levels and most have been banned in the UK following concerns about environmental pollution.

However, it is thought these compounds accumulated in the environment through previous agricultural and industrial use.

In the new study, researchers from the University of Oxford, and Conservation Science Investigations (CSI): Sittingbourne, analysed a Roman bowl from the Late Iron Age (between 43 and 410 AD).

Made of a copper alloy, the vessel was found in 2016 on a farm in Kent, a site that was known to have been used for agriculture since at least 1936.

Luciana da Costa Carvalho and colleagues analysed the green and brown-coloured corrosion on the bowl to identify their different components.

They found elements that were indicative of the changes over time in the soil caused by human activities.

Researchers found chlorobenzenes present in the green-coloured corrosion.

The authors also found diethyltoluamide (also known as DEET) in the brown-coloured corrosion, a modern compound that is still used in insect repellents.

They suggest that the chlorobenzenes were associated with increased corrosion in the Roman bowl.

They say that even though the chemical is no longer used in the UK, polluted soil may still threaten the preservation of archaeological material still buried and more research needs to be undertaken to better understand the processes involved.

Writing in the Scientific Reports Journal, the authors said: “Chlorobenzenes are common soil contaminants in rural areas from the use of pesticides, many of which were banned more than 50 years ago.

“Here we show that their presence is associated with accelerated corrosion and this provides a threat to the preservation of archaeological metal objects in the ground.”

Suspected Roman ford unearthed near Evesham during waterworks

Archaeologists say a cobbled ford uncovered near Evesham could be the finest Roman example of its type in Britain. The 10m-stretch, believed to extend to a depth of 3m, was discovered during routine waterworks by Severn Trent.

Aidan Smyth, archaeology officer from Wychavon District Council, said the discovery “took his breath away”.

If confirmed to originate from the first century AD, it would be “beyond rare”, he added.

A team from Historic England is expected to analyse the excavations.

The discovery, at an as yet undisclosed location, aligns with the dating of a nearby villa complex.

A spokesperson for Severn Trent Water said network improvement works were halted as soon as the ford was uncovered.

“Our teams… are working closely with Historic England, with representatives due to attend the site following further excavations,” they added.

Mr Smyth said the ford, which crosses a brook, carries marks to suggest it was used by carts.

“The stonework is absolutely perfect,” he said. “It just ticks every box for being Roman,” he said.

“When I came down to look at it, honestly, I thought it’s too good to be true.

“But then you look at the alluvium [a deposit of silt] that it’s filled up, so that hasn’t happened in one or two centuries. That’s taken millennia to be able to get that deep.

“The only place I can see similar when I was doing some research is in Pompeii. I can’t find anything else anywhere like that.”

Mr Smyth will work with a field archaeologist to dig a small area at the ford’s side on Monday for a typological assessment.

He is expecting to confirm its origin by the end of next week.

“If it is of a Roman date, it’s the only one of its kind in Britain,” he said.

Rendlesham: 1,400-year-old royal hall unearthed

A royal hall of “international importance” that dates back 1,400 years has been unearthed on private land. The Hall of the first Kings of East Anglia was discovered in Rendlesham, Suffolk, over the summer.

Prof Christopher Scull said it was the “most extensive and materially wealthy settlement of its date known in England”.

It was discovered by a community dig as part of Suffolk County Council’s Rendlesham Revealed project.

The authority said the hall was “recorded in the writings of The Venerable Bede of the 8th Century”.

The hall, which was 75ft (23m) long and 33ft (10m) wide, was set within a larger settlement of more than 124 acres (50 hectares).

For 150 years, between AD 570 and AD 720, it was the centre from which a major province of the East Anglian kingdom, focused on the valley of the River Deben, was ruled.

Bede’s writings identified Rendlesham as the place where the East Anglian King Aethelwold stood sponsor at the baptism of King Swithelm of the East Saxons, between the years AD 655 and 663.

Prof Scull, the project’s principal academic advisor, said: “The results of this season’s excavation are of international importance.

“Rendlesham is the most extensive and materially wealthy settlement of its date known in England, and excavation of the hall confirms that this is the royal residence recorded by Bede.

“Only at Rendlesham do we have the wider settlement and landscape context of an early English royal centre, together with an assemblage of metalwork that illuminates the lives and activities of its inhabitants across the social range.”

The work was a “major advance in our understanding of the early East Anglian kingdom and the wider North Sea world of which it was a part,” he added.

The excavations also revealed a perimeter ditch enclosing the royal compound, remains of food preparation and feasting that showed the consumption of vast quantities of meat – mainly beef and pork – and dress jewellery, personal items, fragments of glass drinking vessels and pottery.

Traces of earlier settlements from the Roman period (1st Century AD) and the early Neolithic period (4th Millennium BC) were also found.

Conservative councillor Melanie Vigo di Gallidoro, the authority’s cabinet member for protected landscapes and archaeology, said: “It can’t be underestimated how important this part of Suffolk is to understanding our local and national heritage.”

The area is close to Sutton Hoo where an Anglo-Saxon burial ground was founded in 1939.

More than 250 volunteers, including young adults from Suffolk Family Carers and Suffolk Mind, and primary school children from Rendlesham, Eyke and Wickham Market, were involved.

The excavations are finished in the summer and an analysis of the finds is expected next year.

Footprints Reflect Ecosystem Change in Prehistoric England

“It’s about 8,200 years old,” says Dr Alison Burns, pointing to a perfectly preserved human footprint pressed into ancient mud on Formby Beach. It is one of the hundreds of newly discovered ancient footprints here.

The sandy stretch of the northwest England coast is already known to be home to one of the largest collections of prehistoric animal tracks on Earth.

As well as adding to that collection, researchers found the oldest prints were formed much earlier than thought. The first date back almost 9,000 years and the youngest of the prints are medieval – about 1,000 years old.

These findings, published in the journal Nature Ecology and Evolution, tell the story of a coastal environment that transformed over thousands of years, as sea levels rapidly rose and humans settled permanently by the water.

The size and shape of the picture-perfect human footprint that Dr Burns has found suggest it belonged to a young man – perhaps a teenager. Strangely, this adolescent foot had the very distinct protrusion of a bunion on its little toe.

“It’s a tailor’s bunion,” Dr Burns explains. “They were habitually barefoot, so when they sat down, the little toe would have rubbed on the ground.”

The indentations, pressed into the mud as people and animals walked across stretches of tidal mud flat, were baked in the sun and buried for millennia.

“The oldest ones date to a time when the coastline was 30km away and the tidal muds here were teeming with animals – aurochs, herds of red deer, roe deer and also predators like wolves and lynx that are now extinct in the UK,” explains Prof Jamie Woodward from the University of Manchester.

He and Dr Burns, along with their colleagues, verified the ages of the tracks by carbon-dating seeds extracted from cores of this ancient, compressed mud.

Altogether there are 31 footprint beds, which point to a period of dramatic change in this ecosystem. “Up to about 6,000 years ago, there was a very diverse landscape with all those animals,” says Prof Woodward. “Then after about 5,500 years ago, we see lots of human footprints, some deer and dogs, but not much else.

“So what we’re seeing – through the footprints – is a landscape transforming with sea-level rise, and also with the arrival of agriculture that probably put a lot more pressure on this ecosystem.”

Dr Burns, who led the study, explains that as the sea erodes away layers of this ancient, compressed mud, it can reveal new layers of footprints. The deeper the layers, the earlier they were formed.

Footsteps took thousands – even millions of years ago – have left tracks in many parts of the UK’s coastline, which scientists have been able to find, study and turn into a deeper understanding of our prehistory.

In May 2013, a storm exposed some indentations at Happisburgh in Norfolk, which researchers eventually confirmed to be 900,000-year-old human footprints. In 2015, Edinburgh University researchers found trackways on the Isle of Skye, left 170 million years ago by the largest dinosaurs ever to walk the Earth.

But the Formby footprints are particularly fragile.

“They can be washed away within weeks of being exposed,” Dr Burns explains. “Some of them will be reburied and preserved for another few millennia – it’s all a part of this changing coastline.”

The coast at Formby is transforming particularly quickly – its famous dunes are in constant motion – rolling inland by an estimated 4m every year. At one spot on the expansive beach, you can see the remnants of the old visitor’s car park that’s now been rebuilt further inland.

“What’s amazing here is that we’ve tracked a major ecosystem change solely by looking at the footprint record – with no bones or fossils.

“That could paint a picture for the future of our coastal biodiversity hotspots,” adds Prof Woodward.

“Many of the biodiversity hotspots now are in coastal environments. And those environments are threatened by rapid sea-level rise now, so there are lessons we can learn about how habitats can become degraded and disconnected, which will affect the animals that can survive there.”