Proof Of The Roman Road In Bath?

Watch this full episode of Time Team as they investigate a Roman cemetery and the lost Fosse Way in Roman Bath, right next to the famous Royal Crescent. Tony Robinson, Phil Harding, and Mick Aston initially search for Roman sarcophagi behind the Crescent but instead uncover a substantial Roman building. The team, assisted by Romanist Guy de la Bédoyère, discovers this was not a mausoleum but a workshop, part of the expanding Roman suburbs. The biggest surprise comes from in front of the Crescent, where they unearth a major Roman road with skeletons buried alongside it, sparking a huge debate: could this be the legendary Fosse Way?

The dig completely flips the initial theories, as where the team expected burials, they found buildings, and where they expected buildings, they found burials. Battling torrential rain, they expose a six-course Roman wall and evidence of pottery manufacturing, showing a complex history of urban redevelopment. In front of the Crescent, the discovery of a prehistoric Bronze Age ditch is a first for Bath archaeology. The unearthing of two skeletons, including a male buried in a coffin in the road's ditch, provides compelling evidence for the importance of this mysterious road, telling a new story about life and death on the edge of Roman Bath.

00:00 Searching for a Lost Roman Cemetery in Bath
09:15 Surprise Discovery: A Roman Workshop Uncovered!
18:42 Is This the Legendary Fosse Way?
30:55 Prehistoric Ditch & Roman Walls Revealed
41:20 The Skeletons That Rewrote Bath's History

From Time Team, Series 10, Episode 07

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