Situated roughly one mile south of Hadrian’s Wall is one of the great jewels of Roman and early medieval archaeology: Vindolanda. Over the past 50 years, annual excavations at this site have revealed incredible amounts of new information. Information that has not only shone more light on the site’s history, but also on the minutiae of everyday life for those people who lived on this north western frontier of the Roman Empire almost 2,000 years ago.
A plethora of stunning artefacts have been unearthed over the last half decade from Vindolanda: from the only Roman boxing gloves found from anywhere in the Roman Empire to early medieval Christian graffiti. What’s most exciting of all, however, is that there are still so many more exciting finds to be uncovered in the years ahead.
As 2021 nears it end, the Vindolanda team have just wrapped up their most recent excavation of the site. History Hit’s Tristan Hughes headed up to Vindolanda to see what discoveries they’ve made this year and the exciting prospects for the 2022 season. Featuring Dr Andrew Birley, Head of Excavations at Vindolanda, and Marta Alberta, Site Archaeologist at Vindolanda.
Up Next in Ancient
-
Greatest Discoveries: Last Days of Po...
Tristan Hughes explores the destruction of Pompeii, using extraordinary eyewitness testimony and the revelations of archaeology to understand what really happened here nearly 2000 years ago.
In 79 AD, one of the greatest natural disasters in Roman history occurred in southern Italy, when Mount V...
-
A Tour of Fishbourne Palace
In 1960, a man was laying a waterpipe underneath the quaint village of Fishbourne near Chichester, West Sussex, when he uncovered what looked like Roman remains. After he duly reported the discover, the archaeologists were called in and they quickly unearthed more and more prestigious finds. They...
-
🎧 Greek Myths
Natalie Haynes joined me on the podcast to retell the stories of remarkable women at the heart of Greek myths, from Medusa, Penelope, and Pandora, to the Amazons.
21 Comments