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16 February 2003
Death in a Crescent
The beautiful city of Bath, in Somerset, is well known for its history and fine architecture, symbolised by the stunning Roman baths complex that used the natural hot springs on whcich the city's prosperity was founded. On the northern edge of the modern city centre, meanwhile, stands the glorious Royal Crescent – one of the most prestigious addresses in the West Country.
Time Team has been given permission to put trenches through the perfect lawns of the Royal Victoria Park, which fronts the Royal Crescent. Why? Because parch marks noticed in the ground here have indicated that some interesting archaeology could be lying under the surface. Add to this the Victorian-era discovery of a Roman sarcophagus in ground behind the Royal Crescent and it all adds up to a Time Team-sized mystery to sort out in the usual three days.
The known route of the Roman Julian Way passes across the north of the modern city. It's too far away to pass through this site, but could the parch marks in Victoria Park be a lost part of the Fosse Way, another Roman Road that passed through Bath and would have joined the Julian Way? Trenches are excavated all over the area in an attempt to understand the relationship between the site where the sarcophagus was found and the possible road.
After deep excavation, a Roman wall is found at the sarcophagus site, together with lots of evidence for structures – but no bodies. Over in Victoria Park, a Roman road surface is found – together with burials in the roadside. Terrible weather interrupts the dig at intervals as the Team tries to work out the complicated archaeology.
During the three days of investigation, Time Team discovers evidence of various buildings and bodies – even if they are not where it was expected to find them. Mick Aston concludes that Bath has always been a place where sick people came to sample the springs – and perhaps quite a few of them never survived, which is why burials are found all over the place there.
Mapping missing roads
As in any city or built up area, it can be difficult to determine exactly where features such as Roman roads once stood. So while Stewart Ainsworth was running around with his maps, landscape surveyor Henry Chapman was trying out a new computer analysis system to see if his surveys can help with the investigation.
'I've been doing "cost surface analysis",' says Henry. 'Sometimes it's also called "cost path analysis". It's basically a way of finding likely routes across the landscape.'
'My digital model turns the landscape into a virtual wire-frame,' Henry continues. 'Each square on the frame is equal to 10 metres square in real life. The software gives each square a value (or price) depending on where it is and the amount of slope on the ground. For example, a steep bit of ground will have a high value and a flat piece of ground will have a low value.
'What we then do is plot the known Roman roads onto the wire-frame map. There are plenty of gaps where we're not sure which roads continue or connect to others. The computer analyses the value (or cost) of all the land between the end of one road and the beginning of another, and then offers us a proposed route and the cheapest (or easiest) way to connect the two. Hopefully the archaeology in the trenches then matches up with the prediction on the computer.'
Other formulae can also be added to refine the results. But how accurate can this system be? Wouldn't it be easier simply to follow the contours on a map?
'Of course something like this can't tell you everything,' says Henry. 'But it does give us another clue to what could have been here in the past. These are all components that help put the story together. And it looks like Stewart's conclusions from his paper maps are matching up nicely with my computer results.'
Double-barrelled 'geofizz'
John Gater and his geophysics team have been trying out a new piece of equipment for this programme: two magnetometers, interlinked, and strapped to a special frame. So what's the deal with this serious-looking bit of hardware?
'This is a great new piece of kit,' says John. 'Essentially, it doesn't do anything new, but it does allow us to do a survey in half the time. A 20-metre square can be done in just three minutes – and that sort of saving really adds up by the end of the day.'
The team has also been using resistivity to determine features under the ground. 'We've had good results,' continues John. 'By changing the arrangement of probes, we can "see" deeper into the ground. We've managed to find the original plan of the church on the triangle, and then by looking deeper we've also plotted the deepest foundations – which could belong to an earlier-phase smaller building, before the tower was added.'
On top of these tools, the geophysics team has also been using ground-penetrating radar. 'The radar results have been excellent,' says John. 'By layering data sets as we go deeper (like a sponge cake), we can then peel them away on the computer back in the incident room. We can look at the ground and then lift off slices on the computer screen. You start off with a green splodge of topsoil and then go through the backfill to see the outline of wall foundations. Doing this, we've been able to see about 2.5 metres into the ground.'
Being a digger for Time Team
Experienced archaeologist David Thorpe has gained a reputation for being fiercely enthusiastic about his work. But his background is in the archaeology of places like Jordan and other dusty desert sites in the east. How did he become a Time Team digger and what's his first series been like?
'I was working as a field supervisor on a site in London after working abroad,' says David. 'Time Team happened to be making a documentary on the site when some painted Roman wall plaster was discovered in the area I was responsible for. That was the first time I had a camera in my face.
'Later on, some more Roman material was found on another site and they asked me if I would like to have a look at it. The crew came over and that was when I first met Simon Raikes (the Time Team series editor). Basically, when this series started I was roped in to go down to Bristol and meet Tim Taylor (the series producer) and it was there that I was asked to join this year's excavation team.'
David's first programme for the 2003 series was made back in March 2002 at Raunds, in Northamptonshire. Digging trenches and making an archaeology programme at the same time offers plenty of scope for conflicting priorities as two jobs are having to be done together, each with different requirements. But David has found that it all works out quite nicely.
'You would imagine that there are times when the archaeologists and TV people have different agendas, but the whole thing works really well in my experience,' he says. 'There's a job to be done and I can sincerely say that no archaeology is compromised to make the programme. Everyone understands the situation and the whole set-up is like one big family. We also have lots of laughs together when the filming stops at the end of the day.'
So what's been his best shoot so far?
'That's a difficult question to answer,' David says. 'Probably, because of the archaeology. I would have to say the Dinnington, Somerset, programme. We just found the most fantastic archaeology. We also had the bonus of being taken up in the helicopter at the end. However, for the most fun and camaraderie it has to be the Shetland shoot. It was absolutely fantastic to be there, and the people were brilliant. We stayed in a crofter's cottage and were treated like royalty and had to get a ferry to work each day.'
Further reading
Roads in Roman Britain by Hugh Davies (Tempus, 2002) paperback £16.99
Roman Britain was provided with a road system comparable in total length to our modern trunk road and motorway system. Yet little is known of when, how and even why these roads were built. Davies uses archaeological evidence to examine what was built and places these findings in historical context using sources from antiquity. What makes this study unique, however, is his use of expert knowledge from his work as a professional highway engineer to understand the significance of the roads. Davies analyses the possible methods the Romans used in order to achieve the durability and accuracy for which they are renowned, maintaining the extensive network in a working state the quality of which would not again be paralleled until the nineteenth century.
Roman roads by Richard W Bagshawe (Shire Publications, 1994) paperback £4.99
Handy, succinct guide in the accessible Shire series.
Roman Britain by Tim Potter and Catherine Johns ('Exploring the Roman World' series, British Museum Publications, 1992) hardback £19.95; paperback £12.99
A survey of the effects of Roman culture on Britain and its people, by two British Museum curators. Includes evidence from the latest archaeological discoveries, including the Vindolanda writing tablets and the Thetford and Snettisham treasures, as well as a gazetteer of noteworthy sites to visit.
Roman Britain by T W Potter (British Museum Press, 1983, 2nd edition 1997) paperback £8.99
The four centuries during which the Roman presence in Britain rose, flourished and declined changed every aspect of life: industry, trade, government, the arts and learning. This book gives an illustrated outline of the period.
Roman Britain by Martin Millett (English Heritage, 1995) paperback £15.99
Making full use of the archaeological material available, this introductory study of four centuries of Roman presence in Britain explores the central themes of daily life, laying particular emphasis on the social, economic and cultural history.
Life in Roman Britain by Joan Alcock (Batsford/English Heritage, 1996) paperback £15.99
An excellent social history of life in Roman Britain covering food and drink, clothing, recreation, administration and religion. Richly illustrated.
Companion to Roman Britain by Guy de la Bédoyère (Tempus, 1999) hardback £25
This book is a comprehensive compilation of historical and epigraphic facts about Roman Britain and seeks to set the record straight about where facts end and opinions begin. Includes a complete breakdown of all military units, when and where they were stationed and so on, together with details of buildings, officials, administration and the first full list of the Gods of Roman Britain.
An Atlas of Roman Britain by Barri Jones and David Mattingly (Blackwell, 1993, 2001 edition) paperback £15.99
An amazing accumulation of archaeological evidence has been used to map every aspect of Roman life on a countrywide scale, including the distribution of Roman forts, towns, villas, potteries and quarries. Lots of additional plans and useful descriptions on each topic.
Other websites
This website contains links to other websites which are not under the control of and are not maintained by Channel 4 Television. Channel 4 Television is not responsible for the content of these sites and does not necessarily endorse the material on them.
Roman Britain
www.bedoyere.freeserve.co.uk
Time Team Roman expert Guy de la Bédoyère's website includes his online catalogue of stone inscriptions found on altars, statue bases, tombstones and other blocks of Roman masonry. This includes full details and photos of the inscribed stone found at Ancaster. Other resources include a catalogue of Roman gods and goddesses based on a chapter from his book A Companion to Roman Britain (see Further reading).
The Romans
www.open.ac.uk/romans
Website set up by the Open University and the BBC to accompany a three-part series about the Romans. Presented by Time Team's Roman expert Guy de la Bédoyère, the website allows you to explore each programme in detail, with synopses, scripts and biographies of the contributors. There's also a timeline, details of the main locations visited in the series, an extensive reading list, links to other sites, and more information about the Open University courses that the programmes support.
The Roman army in Britain
www.morgue.demon.co.uk/
Detailed website about the Roman army in Britain, its fortresses, forts, watchtowers, temporary camps, depots and industrial sites, built over 400 years, with photographs, reconstructions and other background material on the army and the military history of Britannia. Includes a gazetteer of Roman military sites, bibliography and other web links.
Caistor Roman town
www.sys.uea.ac.uk/Research/ResGroups/
JWMP/CaistorRomanTown/crtp1.html
A virtual tour around the Roman town of Caistor, in Norfolk, which was a thriving regional capital almost two millennia ago. The site is unique in never having been disturbed by later buildings.
Virtual Rome
www.geocities.com/Athens/Forum/6946/rome.html
At this excellent site you can not only take a virtual tour of ancient Rome, but can also consult a dictionary of mythology, delve into Roman history and the Latin language, and take your pick of a variety of other links to sites concerned with the ancient world.
Open Directory Project
http://dmoz.org/Science/Social_Sciences/
Archaeology/Periods_and_Cultures/Roman
The archaeology section of the Open Directory Project, a collection of weblinks organised by subject, is maintained by Time Team Forum regular Jean Manco. This includes a range of links to Roman-related websites. There is a section on various Roman sites and monuments in Britain.
Roman Britain Club
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/romanbritain/
Another Time Team Forum regular is behind a club on Roman Britain, set up specially to discuss the history and archaeology associated with this furthest outpost of the Roman empire.