Lunchtime Talk: Understanding Isca: recent work at the Legionary Fortress at Caerleon
[image: Caerleon fortress]
Reconstruction of the newly discovered 'monumental suburb' outside the legionary fortress at Caerleon
[image: Archaeological Excavations at Priory Field, 2010]
Excavations at Priory Field in 2010
Investigating the newly-discovered suburb of Monumental Buildings outside the legionary fortress at Caerleon.
Lying on the west bank of the River Usk, just north of the city of Newport, the town of Caerleon lies over some of the most remarkable and evocative remains from the Roman period in Britain.
Geophysical surveys undertaken in 2009 and 2010 located a previously unknown complex of large public-style buildings south of the fortress, between the amphitheatre and the River Usk.
The dating, function and history of these buildings is unknown, but it is thought they could include market places, civic buildings, stores, bath-houses and possible temples.
A team of 50 archaeologists from Cardiff University will return to the site in the summer of 2011 to carry out further geophysical surveys and excavate a series of trial trenches across this suburban complex of monumental buildings.
This work will provide important new evidence to answer some of the initial questions the discovery has raised about the role and status of the fortress of Isca in the period of the conquest, and pacification of Wales by the Roman army.
Dr Peter Guest, Senior Lecturer at Cardiff University and director of the Caerleon excavations, will describe background to the project and explore what this new project adds to our knowledge of Isca and its garrison, the Second Augustan Legion.
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