Posted on 10/14/2005 4:44:24 PM PDT by blam
ROMAN FINDS RE-WRITE HISTORY
By Suzanne Pert
AMAZING finds by archaeologists during recent excavations at Brading Roman Villa mean history will have to be re-written, not just there but at other important mosaic sites around the country.
Archaeologist Kevin Trott with some of the pieces of pottery found at the Brading Roman Villa site. Picture by PETER BOAM
Although his findings are still to be published, archaeologist Kevin Trott has compiled a 400-page report, which has dispelled some long-held myths and is set to take the archaeological world by storm. This week he gave the County Press an insight into the archaeologically-explosive contents.
Palladius, the supposed owner of the villa, is now completely out of the frame. It has emerged that when the villa burnt down in a catastrophic fire in around 300 AD, Palladius had not even been born.
There is now overwhelming evidence that the villa dates from the third century, not the fourth as originally thought from the style of the mosaics.
This revision of its date has repercussions for other prominent Roman sites, which have been dated from the style of their mosaics.
"Our findings have even surprised experts like me but it is clear that basing a date on the style of mosaics is a false way of doing things," said Mr Trott, whose fast-growing reputation means he is being invited to talk at conferences about his work.
"The work we have just completed has unravelled everything completely," said Mr Trott, 33, who lives with his wife Kathryn and son, Joseph, one, in Staplers Road, Newport.
After his excavations, which began in 2003, the pottery, glass, coins and other artefacts were sent off to individual experts for their analysis. Once those reports came back, all the evidence was analysed and pulled together by Mr Trott.
He and a team of up to 28 people have looked at the site from the very earliest period 8,000 years ago in the Middle Stone Age up to the present.
During the period of the Roman Emperor Nero, in about AD60, there was a high-status building on the site. "Not only did the owner have mosaics but also painted wall plaster and the interesting thing is that he could afford minerals to make the paint up cinnabar and Egyptian blue, which came from Spain and Egypt respectively. Only five other sites in Britain have this and they include such significant places as Fishbourne Roman Palace," said Mr Trott, who comes from nine generations of Islanders.
The villa in Brading, as it is seen today, was built in 270AD, but it was to be completely destroyed in a catastrophic fire just 30 years or so later.
Soil samples suggest there was never a formal garden at the villa. All that was outside was domestic rubbish and toilets in front of the building.
Thousands of charred beans were also found the largest amount discovered in Britain and it is Mr Trott's view they were a staple diet on the Island, in the same way that Lincolnshire became known for producing brussels sprouts.
The beans were preserved by being charred, probably in the fire which destroyed the villa.
14 October 2005
I love this, it is called 'theory' bashing or throwing out that cup of tea leaves and using facts.
The same goes for Brittany, with one of the branches completely disappearing in the 1300s or thereabouts as it's last example bit the dirt before an onslaught of Gallo. This left behind a plethora of surnames with unusual prefixes and honorifics.
Scotland is a special case since yet another branch of the ancient Celtic languages prevailed in most places until the arrival of the Scots in the 9th Century (who brought both a q and p version with them). Although no one knows what really happened, I suspect the Scots, with their Viking allies, managed to remove and replace the natives!
Given that so many of the communities in the Celtic Fringe were illiterate until modern times, what they spoke in the distant past in any particular place is very little more than a good guess. Of course, in the far distant past, we know they owned Greek scribes because that's the language in which their business and religious affairs were conducted.
Given that so many of the communities in the Celtic Fringe were illiterate until modern times, what they spoke in the distant past in any particular place is very little more than a good guess.
We do have a decent sampling of writing in the native languages from the Dark Ages and Middle Ages, and the selction is particularly rich coming from Ireland and Wales, which show the Goidelic/Brythonic split pretty nicely. There are also many, many examples of Roman inscriptions using local languages and names for deities, which strongly indicate that whatever local variations in languages may have existed, the general split was there. There's also the Irish Ogham stones, even the earliest examples of which are written in proto-Gaelic.
Of course, in the far distant past, we know they owned Greek scribes because that's the language in which their business and religious affairs were conducted.
That's a new one on me, as well. Are you talking about their pre-Roman, pre-literate past? I'm not aware of any examples of Greek writing which show Celtic business affairs - in fact the only example of pre-Roman examples of Celtic written records at all is the Coligny Calendar, which was definitely written in Gaulish rather than Greek. I will try to remember to ask Alexei Kondratiev about all this.
Most of our earliest materials concerning the comings and goings of the Scota, et al, are in Greek ~ these are not Greek records, but Scota records in Greek!
In an earlier time Sumerian played a similar part in the Middle East, and in a later time Latin played the same part throughout Europe and the Mediterranean.
BTW, the last report I read concerning what the Picts spoke suggested their language group had many Celtic words acquired from the Celtic tribes with whom they traded, but otherwise it stood alone (as does Basque).
BTW, it was still Alba up until the 9th century when the Scota and their Viking allies took over the place, so differentiation into Alba and Scotia slops over the Romano-Brittain period and can be confusing.
I dunno, I think your information about the Picts (at least) is about 20-30 years out of date. It's not what is being taught in Celtic studies classes currently.
The Dark Ages was a world-wide event.
btt
The 3rd Century was a period of decline. It was rescued by Diocletian and Constantine
See above post. Sorry, I did not look back to see who had posted the article.
Thank you. It is very interesting.
It's interesting not only how little we know (firmly) about the distant past, but also how little we often know about the recent past.
For example, the son of Louis L'Amour, the Western writer, is trying to write a biography of his father, but is having trouble putting together a complete narrative. There are periods of years at a time where L'Amour simply disappeared - in the South Pacific, maybe into Russia, and sometimes even in the Midwest. In the books that have been printed recently, there are notes from the son asking for information ... "He might have been here in these years, he might have been calling himself this name, or that name, I think he mentioned a ship called Something, or maybe that was later ..." And all this in the 20th century.
Hope y'all don't mind me putting about 11/2 cents in.
There was a mini-ice age around 1100 AD. Not sure of the dates, but it was probably caused by an astroid crash or volcano. There have been several TV shows on it. The effects were noted in civilizations all over the world and the rings of trees from different locales bear the theory out.
There's been a variety of interesting possibilities discussed here. I'll be looking into more sources on my next trip to the library.
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