[ News
| Homes
| Life
| Entertainment
| History
| Science
| Community
| Shop ]
| Sport
| Culture
| Cars
| Money
| Broadband
| Learning
| Health
| Dating
| Games ]
[ Text Only: Homepage ]
[ Graphical: Channel4 Homepage ]
[ Time Team Home | Return to programme index ]
23 March 2003
A view to a kiln
Prior to Time Team's visit, metal detectorist Alan Luton had found more than 100 Roman artefacts in fields around Sedgefield – a place where no Roman evidence had previously been recorded. Aerial photographs also indicated lots of interesting crop marks, which looked complicated and could represent any number of possible remains. Time Team was invited to try to find some answers.
Prospecting
In a bid to discover evidence, Time Team started by conducting a fieldwalking survey, carried out together with a co-ordinated metal-detecting scan. At the same time, the geophysics team and surveyor Henry Chapman got to work recording as much of the 20-acre site as possible.
Trenches
The first trenches were put in to investigate geophysics anomalies and resulted in areas of burning and metalworking slag being found, indicating industrial activity. Further geophysics survey work suggested a roadway through the centre of rows of enclosures – what Stewart Ainsworth describes as a 'ladder settlement'. Further trenches were put in to investigate more geophysics puzzles.
The discoveries
One of the most interesting discoveries was by Phil Harding: an intact Roman pottery kiln, which is unusual because it's thought that usually pottery was transported or imported this far north, rather than being produced here. Stewart Ainsworth found a likely explanation in the form of documentary evidence for many later kilns in the area because of the high-quality clay.
Meanwhile, very fine 'ghost' features in the soil indicated where timber beams and posts may have been, forming part of timber-framed buildings. The final conclusions were that this settlement of more than 20 enclosures was built up along a trackway leading to Hadrian's Wall. The industrial pottery and metalwork activity in the area probably relied heavily on military traffic for its customers.
Time Team surveyor Henry Chapman can often be seen waltzing off into the distance with his equipment, while landscape archaeologist Stewart Ainsworth can always be relied on for his highly accurate predictions. How do these two masters of topography work?
Henry Chapman, surveyor
'Here at Sedgefield we have a massive landscape, but what appears to be happening is that a Roman road is following the natural topography of the land,' says Henry. 'I'm doing a large survey of the whole area so that I can create a large model of what we can see. By doing the survey I can pick up lots of little lumps and bumps on the ground that may not be immediately obvious to the eye. I can also tie in all of the geophysics data and plot the location of the trenches onto my plan so that we have a much better and rounded impression of what is happening with this landscape.'
After setting up his base station, Henry walks off into the distance to start surveying.
'The base station over the other side is talking to satellites so that it knows where it is on the planet,' continues Henry. 'Then the surveying staff that I carry triangulates with the base station and the satellite to pinpoint exactly where I am. It's very accurate. With a normal GPS (global positioning system) that you may have in a car it can be accurate down to a few metres. This system is much more sensitive and is accurate to within millimetres. I also like this equipment because it's a nice yellow colour.'
Henry then sets off across the field to plot another geophysics grid. A little later in the day we catch up with him again in the incident room, where he is processing his information. 'I'm very, very excited, just have a look at this,' he says. 'The computer acts as the hub for the whole shooting match. I use software called the Geographical Information System, which maps all of the data recorded in the field. I can look at duplicating data sets and enhance the data to try to identify features and set the area we excavate within the bigger picture of the landscape as a whole. This has been a good one to do.'
Stewart Ainsworth, landscape archaeologist
Stewart Ainsworth is across the incident room from Henry Chapman at Sedgefield, poring over his maps.
'The first thing on any Time Team for me is to look at maps,' says Stewart, 'maps from lots of different periods. That way I can get an overview of how a landscape is used and how it may have changed,' he says. 'The next step is to look at aerial photographs for signs that you can't see on a map. With that information I then walk over the ground.'
'One of the things we've been talking about on this programme is "ladder" settlement,' Stewart continues. 'If you imagine a ladder with its side rails and rungs in between – that's the layout of this settlement. We have boundaries on either side, and measured plots within it. This was basically very early town planning.'
'One of the great things with this site is the fact that we have located a Roman road between York and Chester Street [another Roman road to the north], and this settlement sits on either side of that road,' says Stewart. 'The exact setting-out of this site, the fact that it was deliberately planned, points towards some military influence. We're only about 20 miles from Hadrian's Wall here. This place could well have been set out or predetermined by the military telling the civilian population how they should plan their development.
'We certainly don't have lots of evidence for major stone-built structures here, but I imagine that we are looking at a variety of different crafts being practised here inside basic timber buildings. If you want a modern equivalent, I think this could be the Roman version of an industrial estate alongside a dual carriageway.'
Theresa Hall, fieldwalking specialist
Archaeologist Theresa Hall also walks the landscape: her speciality is fieldwalking.
'We superimpose a grid of 20-metre squares over the field,' says Theresa. 'Each square is numbered and then we walk each section and pick up any finds that we see. All of the finds are then analysed and concentrations are plotted onto a map. These dense areas of finds can indicate settlement. The interesting thing here is that we could tie our plots with the geophysics results. We found concentrations of Roman pottery within several of the boundaries on the site. It all looks very promising.'
Further reading.
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.
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.
Forum Romanum
www.forumromanum.org
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.
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.
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 this club on Roman Britain, set up specially to discuss the history and archaeology associated with this furthest outpost of the Roman empire.