Vindolanda

We've got to travel to fantastic museums and sites across Britain.

We've been out to Vindolanda, to Corbridge.

I mean, I only go on a few trips when it involves me also looking at some coins.

So they've been doing far more of that across the country.

One wall in particular, two walls actually.

But the other thing, of course, is that there is, as we know from Vindolanda, Lots and lots of other duties that second lots of men away from their legionary camp to go and do other duties, whether it be patrolling or helping with other tasks, road building, obviously.

And they also, especially from the wars of Marcus Aurelius onwards, start to send vexillations to other campaigns.

So even though you have the legion based in Britain and that's still its legionary base in, we get these vast numbers of men being vexillated to other campaigns.

So this landscape was big enough and probably rich enough and high status enough for someone to have a... wax tablets that they would write on yeah exactly

well think back to the Vindolanda where all those wonderful wax tablets were found and do you remember that story I said about I think his name was Masculus

yeah

he was the Roman send more beer yeah send more beer so Land Rovers the soldiers are out we need more beer Brilliant.

Now for my favourite discovery.

We're coming to Roman Britain, to Vindolanda, near Hadrian's Wall.

In 1992, archaeologists found a wooden object among materials discarded in a ditch in the 2nd century AD.

It was found with shoes, accessories and bits of craft material and it was initially identified as a darning tool.

You create an economy that, uh, wasn't there before, and you give an incentive to locals, I suppose, to up the production to the levels that, um, it's needed by the Romans.

But we also see that the Roman army itself produces cheese, doesn't it? I mean, and one of the things that we're worth shouting out to here is, is, listeners, is the absolute value that we have in, in, if you're unfamiliar with them, in something called the Vindolanda letters.

So in this 1973 excavations along Hadrian's Wall, the, the, the wall line that runs towards the, what was the border between Roman Britain and, and the territory beyond in, in, in that era.

There were a series of forts along, along, uh, that border, and at one of these forts, Vindolanda, in the '70s, this absolute treasure trove started being unearthed of wooden written tablets.

So this isn't big inscriptions.

You know, if you're used to seeing Roman writing and Latin, you're probably thinking in your head of inscriptions on statues, of inscriptions on buildings.

They're books.

You know, they're deliberately written.

And even if you were free, living under Roman occupation was deeply traumatic.

Just look at the discoveries at Vindolanda, the Roman auxiliary fort near Hadrian's Wall.

Vindolanda is fascinating.

The anaerobic mud there perfectly preserved almost a thousand ancient leather shoes.

They date to the late 2nd century, which was a period of intense, bloody civil war across the empire.

The fragments of Alistair Gunn's plane, recovered from that Norwegian mountainside, are a memorial to just one of World War II's forgotten heroes.

Our next investigation takes us to the Roman fort of Vindolanda in Northumberland.

Vindolanda is near Hadrian's Wall, the northernmost frontier of the Roman Empire.

For almost 300 years, its numerous forts were key to the stability of military rule in this inhospitable and dangerous no-man's land.

Roman sites are invariably rich in finds, but very few in Britain have delivered the sheer range of artefacts that we've found at Vindolanda, from swords to sandals and even handwritten notes from the soldiers themselves.

Now, people have been digging at Vindolanda for decades, revealing the rich and layered history of the Romans in Britain.

But can this year's dig uncover fresh insights about a particularly turbulent episode during those centuries of Roman rule? This summer, archaeologists have been digging into the ditches, Vindolanda's frontline defences, where the discoveries have been spectacular.

Look at

But what makes this one stand out is that it was once the northern frontier of the entire Roman Empire.

And guarding the central section of the Stain Gate, that important east-west supply route, was the Fort of Vindolanda.

Each year from April to mid-September, an army of over 500 archeology volunteers comes here from all over the world.

And every week they make new discoveries.

It's very, very badly bashed, but you sort of see it on the side profile.

This is the neck guard at the back, and this is the start of the top of the helmet coming up.

Vindolanda has been excavated for over 40 years, but they estimate they've only uncovered 15% of it, and that it would take another 150 years to finish the job, which is utterly remarkable because the site as it stands is absolutely massive.

Vindolanda was bought in 1929 by the renowned archaeologist, Professor Eric Burley.

The fragments of Alistair Gunn's plane recovered from that Norwegian mountainside are a memorial to just one of World War II's forgotten heroes.

[pensive music] [waves crashing] Our next investigation takes us to the Roman fort of Vindolanda in Northumberland.

Vindolanda is near Hadrian's Wall, the northernmost frontier of the Roman Empire.

For almost 300 years, its numerous forts were key to the stability of military rule in this inhospitable and dangerous no man's land.

Roman sites are invariably rich in finds, but very few in Britain have delivered the sheer range of artifacts that we've found at Vindolanda, from swords to sandals, and even handwritten notes from the soldiers themselves.

Now, people have been digging at Vindolanda for decades, revealing the rich and layered history of the Romans in Britain, but can this year's dig uncover fresh insights about a particularly turbulent episode during those centuries of Roman rule? [upbeat music] This summer, archeologists have been digging into the ditches, Vindolanda's frontline defenses, where the discoveries have been spectacular.

Look at that.

Oh.