上位 200 件のコメント表示する 500

[–]poke50uk 433ポイント434ポイント  (80子コメント)

It's more like a back field, it's a massive area! http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-wiltshire-36062538

It makes it sounds like it's a small garden.

[–]YoSoyUnPayaso 347ポイント348ポイント  (16子コメント)

A stone planter which had been holding geraniums by Mr Irwin's kitchen was also identified by experts as a Roman child's coffin

[–]HallowedMoth147 33ポイント34ポイント  (1子コメント)

Yeah I was wondering how could a Villa fit into a backyard.

[–]drummerftw 2ポイント3ポイント  (0子コメント)

Haha seriously, this. It's a full-on field that happens to be next to the house, not really a 'backyard'.

[–]gims2 336ポイント337ポイント  (104子コメント)

What happens to people who find historically significant stuff like that on their property? Do archaeologists pay the owner to dig and research his backyard? If I find a dinosaur skeleton in my garden would I be able to sell it?

[–]vesaninja 265ポイント266ポイント  (69子コメント)

Different countries have different laws, but if the findings are really significant you cannot sell them, you only get a small reward for them.

Edit: In the US it's yours to sell freely.

[–]InDNile 70ポイント71ポイント  (35子コメント)

What if it stretches into the house

[–]vesaninja 148ポイント149ポイント  (31子コメント)

A house is not going to hold anyone back if the findings are super important.

[–]fuck-you-man 270ポイント271ポイント  (18子コメント)

Or if they want to build a bypass for that matter.

[–]Frenchy_Man 160ポイント161ポイント  (8子コメント)

The plans have been posted for months now, they should take a more active role in the going-ons

[–]SmorlFox [スコア非表示]  (5子コメント)

On display? I had to go down to a cellar!

I eventually found them in the bottom of a locked filing cabinet in a disused lavatory with a sign on the door saying 'beware of the leopard'

[–]Wallace_II 42ポイント43ポイント  (0子コメント)

Well, thanks for all the fish.

[–]pinksockpapercut 12ポイント13ポイント  (0子コメント)

You've got to build bypasses

[–]PM_ur_Rump [スコア非表示]  (1子コメント)

A planet won't matter in that case.

In fact, I wrote a poem about it....

[–]RobotCoyote 2ポイント3ポイント  (1子コメント)

But I'd imagine that in addition to the small reward, you'd also be compensated for the house and temporary housing/relocation costs.

[–]vesaninja 7ポイント8ポイント  (0子コメント)

Of course. It's not like they would leave you homeless and that small reward can sometimes be rather large.

[–]Itaywpyurucic 15ポイント16ポイント  (1子コメント)

Then they would have discovered it when they built the house you silly billy

[–]Art4261 43ポイント44ポイント  (10子コメント)

They are usually sold in the UK, with the price defined by a board of experts. If you find something on someone else's land, you split the money with the landowner.

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1996/24/section/10

Edit: For example the Staffordshire Hoard was valued at £3.285m, which was split between finder and landowner. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Staffordshire_Hoard#Value

[–]ds580 3ポイント4ポイント  (7子コメント)

Weird. Why is this different than other property rights like oil and gas?

[–]PlankWithANailIn 9ポイント10ポイント  (2子コメント)

It depends on country, in the UK you do not own the mineral rights under your land, it's all owned by the State.

[–]Toukai 13ポイント14ポイント  (0子コメント)

The meek shall inherit the Earth, but not it's mineral rights.

[–]LokisDawn 4ポイント5ポイント  (0子コメント)

Cultural heritage is seen as public property.

[–]Alphaeno 16ポイント17ポイント  (9子コメント)

Ah, so never report significant findings. Thank you.

[–]Anta_Doudeke 11ポイント12ポイント  (0子コメント)

I know there is a large market for dinosaur bones! Not sure the legal requirements to prove ownership though.

http://www.npr.org/2015/10/29/452763153/yes-you-can-put-a-price-on-a-t-rex

[–]Thesleeperhold 40ポイント41ポイント  (4子コメント)

Usually they are driven out of the house by ghosts.

[–]Gisschace 15ポイント16ポイント  (1子コメント)

Depends but the land owner and the finder (if different) usually get the money for it. There was a famous discovery a few years ago of a massive hoard of Saxon gold found by a metal detector on a farmers land. It was worth about £3 million and the two split the proceeds when it was bought:

On 25 November 2009 the hoard was valued by the Treasure Valuation Committee at £3.285 million, which, under the provisions of the 1996 Treasure Act, is the sum that must be paid as a reward to the finder and landowner, to be shared equally, by any museum that wishes to acquire the hoard

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Staffordshire_Hoard

[–]Processtour 28ポイント29ポイント  (9子コメント)

I think I would lawyer up before I presented any of this to archeologists. You might not get your house back.

[–]MK_Ultrex 21ポイント22ポイント  (5子コメント)

In Greece if you find ancient artifacts you are fucked. First of all you cannot own any of it, second your property is barred from construction of any kind until further excavation and the eventual removal or compulsory sell to the government. Thing is that this procedure make take decades as the archaeological department have work for centuries and cannot follow everything much less pay for the purchase of thousands of acres of private land. Many people just destroy everything they happen to find when building a house, which may include bribing the mandatory archaeological committee that inspects every plot before the issuance of a construction permit.

[–]bittoxic00 11ポイント12ポイント  (2子コメント)

Greece is so small and yet rich in historical civilization I feel like the whole country could be evicted and Greece could be one large site.

[–]ApprovalNet 16ポイント17ポイント  (6子コメント)

You don't technically own your property, the municipality that you pay your property taxes to does. This is why you can be forced to maintain certain standards on "your property", can't build certain things on it without permits, can lose it via eminent domain etc. Property ownership is more closely related to a lease than actual ownership. Look into allodial title for more information.

[–]SnoopyLupus 6ポイント7ポイント  (0子コメント)

the municipality that you pay your property taxes to does

The UK doesn't have property taxes.

[–]Tai15 2ポイント3ポイント  (0子コメント)

Laws over property rights are complex and vary from country to country. For example, in the United States, some Native American archaeological sites, mostly burials, are considered property of the tribes that claim historical associations with area. If it's European settlement stuff, it's all yours.

Generally, an archaeologist would not pay to recover a site like this. A university would most likely do it for free, and if you wanted a private firm, it would be quite expensive. It looks like they have a couple dozen 1 m by 1 m test units going, and that's pretty expensive in terms of man power.

[–]burkechrs1 2ポイント3ポイント  (0子コメント)

Right? All I see here is "owner potentially loses home because ancient shit is under it."

It's an awesome discovery, but I'd be pretty peeved if I had to vacate my house and didn't get significant amounts of money to do so.

[–]CSwork1 2ポイント3ポイント  (0子コメント)

Expected this to be the #1 post, not #5.

[–]Gisschace 312ポイント313ポイント  (15子コメント)

It never ceases to amaze me what stuff keeps turning up in the UK. Even though we have practically zero wilderness and the landscape managed by humans for 1000s of years there's still things we are discovering.

[–]KaelNukem 122ポイント123ポイント  (0子コメント)

I guess it has to do with how we treat old stuff, like throwing away electronics or bringing your car to the scrapper. In those days you just threw mud over the problem

In the region where I live, they were so good at it that if there were to be a flood you would have a ton of man-made islands filled with hundreds or thousand year old rubbish.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terp

[–]TheIrateGlaswegian 20ポイント21ポイント  (0子コメント)

My old house was built on the line of the Antonine Wall. And just 100 yards away are the remains of the motte & bailey where William Wallace was imprisoned before being carted away to London for execution.

[–]Dinewiz 35ポイント36ポイント  (3子コメント)

According to the Internet less than 1% of the UK area had been developed upon. Whilst it is small, it's a lot bigger than you may realise. And if ground hasn't been dug up and developed on (which, if I understand correctly, the vast majority hasnt) we're not going to discover anything hidden underneath.

[–]Gisschace 56ポイント57ポイント  (1子コメント)

The overwhelming majority of the rest of the land is agricultural or managed in some way. While it hasn't been developed people have been plowing, planting trees, chopping them down, raising animals etc. And it may not be developed now it could have been in the past (this villa is an example of that). It would be nearly impossible to find a bit of land in this country which hasn't been touched by humans at some point in the last 1000 years - which is why we have so much of this random stuff out there to find. The green and pleasant land trope you think of when you think UK is completely manicured by humans.

[–]riversilver 3ポイント4ポイント  (0子コメント)

Have you ever flown in/out of the UK? The amount of empty green countryside is staggering.

[–]moc_tidder_www 2ポイント3ポイント  (0子コメント)

You should try Italy. In some places you literally can't turn your garden over without finding something that anyone else would think of as significant. Trouble is as its legal system is still a little...3rd world, shall we say, most of it just gets re-buried or sold on quietly.

[–]TheTabman 1713ポイント1714ポイント  (370子コメント)

It's probably because I have no clue about archaeology, but for me "perfectly preserved" is something different than a few holes in the mud.

[–]got-trunks 814ポイント815ポイント  (210子コメント)

[–]Shaushage_Shandwich 321ポイント322ポイント  (198子コメント)

man they even dug up the poor guy's kitchen.

[–]4444-4444-4444-4444 128ポイント129ポイント  (27子コメント)

If you read the article, he seems pretty happy about it......... if you read the article........Also, no one emails archeologists and says "Yeah, Alright, I found this... what is it? Oh it's from a Roman Emperor? No you can't dig up my kitchen, piss off!!".

[–]aapowers 27ポイント28ポイント  (5子コメント)

You have a duty to under the Treasure Act.

You have to report it to the coroner (the bloke who does the dead people).

If the Crown wants it, the Crown gets it...

The Treasure Act is definitely worth a read! It's got some really odd rules in it.

[–]Medievalhorde 37ポイント38ポイント  (16子コメント)

You say that, but I'd tell them to fuck off if they wanted to destroy my kitchen. Especially if they didn't have a way to get me another kitchen in the near future.

[–]Squid_In_Exile 74ポイント75ポイント  (9子コメント)

This being the UK, the government would make compulsory purchase of the land in question - with the assumption that you'd use the resulting money to purchase another kitchen.

[–]chilaxinman 142ポイント143ポイント  (6子コメント)

Joke's on them. I'm buying another archeological dig site!

[–]ElMorono 107ポイント108ポイント  (4子コメント)

Archaeologist on phone "He found ANOTHER one?!"

[–]boilerdam 10ポイント11ポイント  (1子コメント)

Archeologist groupies would be fun!

"ok dig team, let's pack it up and roll... the guy just bought another estate." <the group walks away chanting Luke Irwin's name>

[–]4444-4444-4444-4444 21ポイント22ポイント  (3子コメント)

You say that too, but I am saying you don't contact someone whose profession is digging up stuff to not dig up something.

You don't turn on a light switch to flush a toilet. In most places at least.

[–]Sn1per9000 13ポイント14ポイント  (0子コメント)

I never do. The dark is the way to go.

[–]Medievalhorde 3ポイント4ポイント  (0子コメント)

It's also a different thing to tell someone they can dig in your backyard and tearing up your kitchen.

[–]PlankWithANailIn 2ポイント3ポイント  (1子コメント)

If there are no other Roman Villas in the local area or if this is really one of the better ones then he has a pretty good future tourist attraction on his hands.

[–]hck1206a9102 180ポイント181ポイント  (164子コメント)

Something tells me he can afford it now

[–]mudo2000 251ポイント252ポイント  (147子コメント)

I don't know a lot about estate law in the UK, but I don't think he is going to get paid for this.

[–]adognow 247ポイント248ポイント  (58子コメント)

As I recall really important finds are declared crown property, but the British government is obliged to pay the "fair market value".

Less important finds, once determined by archaeologists can then be sold on your own terms.

[–]Damadawf 44ポイント45ポイント  (48子コメント)

When you use the quotations, are you implying that the government will be generous to the person who has their house torn up for a dig like this, or do they get fucked over?

[–]pedal2000 78ポイント79ポイント  (21子コメント)

Typically the payment is fair market rate so... Neither generous nor fucked over. Just as of he'd decided to sell.

[–]IHaveTomatoes 61ポイント62ポイント  (2子コメント)

Man that'd be pretty shitty. To me the stress of having to move suddenly and without extra compensation would make me not want to report the find.

[–]Random-Miser 28ポイント29ポイント  (19子コメント)

It's fair market rate for the find, not just his normal property. An ancient emperors palace would have a pretty hefty value.

[–]thepitchaxistheory 25ポイント26ポイント  (1子コメント)

It must be tough finding comps in the neighborhood for an ancient villa. I wonder how they determine what's fair?

[–]Random-Miser 10ポイント11ポイント  (0子コメント)

They likely will end up digging up and removing the entire site, and pay the owner for both the removed antiquities, as well as a high end value for the cost of repairs and rebuilding.

[–]PollyPropylene 12ポイント13ポイント  (14子コメント)

I'd like to see that cited. I'm curious if it's the fair market value of the find or the property real estate.

[–]cipher_six 8ポイント9ポイント  (1子コメント)

What are ancient Roman luxury villas going for nowadays? My Ebay search is coming up dry.

[–]Random-Miser 2ポイント3ポイント  (0子コメント)

You would have to ask museums what they would pay for the stuff.

[–]leshake 8ポイント9ポイント  (1子コメント)

He is quoting the legal standard. Quotes aren't always used to be snarky.

[–]His_Wardship 15ポイント16ポイント  (0子コメント)

This would be governed by the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979. He would be compensated, the Crown (through the Secretary of State) does not simply declare ownership of the land, such lands are acquired through compulsory purchase.

[–]99639 11ポイント12ポイント  (2子コメント)

Fascinating photo. I wonder how many more such places were dismantled for scrap and reused by successive people, and how exactly this one was just left, with all that gorgeous mosaic flooring and jewelry, to just sit and be buried under dirt.

[–]grandmaester 4ポイント5ポイント  (0子コメント)

This is from another site. They didn't excavate much of the mosaics because they didn't have the funding to preserve them once excavated.

[–]IWillNotLoiter 254ポイント255ポイント  (23子コメント)

Me too, i was imagining a giant villa in a Little back yard. I just could't understand How he didn't notice it before now

[–]BYoungNY 599ポイント600ポイント  (13子コメント)

Sipping his coffee, looking out the window... "Honey... Did we buy a Roman Villa for the backyard?

[–]F___TheZero 475ポイント476ポイント  (1子コメント)

"Huh. I always thought that was a tree but from this angle yeah, I guess it does kinda look like a 1400 year old Roman villa."

[–]Minerva89 59ポイント60ポイント  (0子コメント)

"I thought you bought that!"

[–]boolves 53ポイント54ポイント  (6子コメント)

This made me laugh so hard. I had to show my girlfriend next to me... She now wants to be your girlfriend.

[–]cliff99 72ポイント73ポイント  (8子コメント)

Well, their planter was discovered to be a child's stone coffin.

[–]GlowingBall 98ポイント99ポイント  (5子コメント)

You think they would have figured that one out when all the flowers growing from it let out the unholy wailing of the dead when they bloomed.

[–]multijoy 26ポイント27ポイント  (3子コメント)

Probably thought it was foxes. Have you heard them? The unholy dead have nothing on mating foxes.

[–]sscspagftphbpdh17 37ポイント38ポイント  (1子コメント)

Using a child's coffin for a flower bed. Do you want Mandrakes? Because that's how you get Mandrakes.

[–]usr12 271ポイント272ポイント  (63子コメント)

It's a bit dismissive to call it just a few holes in the mud. It's an astoundingly well preserved mosaic flooring, as well as pottery and oyster shells. We don't live in Indiana Jones, a find like this in someones backyard, virtually untouched for 1400 years is stunning.

[–]IDontThinkICanDoThis 32ポイント33ポイント  (0子コメント)

from the OP you're answering to: "It's probably because I have no clue about archaeology"

The guy did say he is no expert. So as a layman he had a different idea of what perfect means. Totally understandable.

[–]Khnagar 89ポイント90ポイント  (53子コメント)

I like how they used a child coffin for a flowerbed without once stopping to think "hmm I wonder where this really old looking, rectangular cut box of stone came from?"

[–]throwaway2588522 46ポイント47ポイント  (3子コメント)

They probably thought the previous owner put it there? I have something similar at my house. It's fucking stone, it doesn't really look any different after awhile.

[–]IntellegentIdiot 12ポイント13ポイント  (2子コメント)

Exactly, it's not like you move in to a house that's completely empty. Who the hell knows where half the crap comes from?

[–]Fuckyousantorum 200ポイント201ポイント  (30子コメント)

As a Brit, we are steeped in old shit. If we stopped to think where that old thing came from we'd never stop.

[–]potifar 37ポイント38ポイント  (0子コメント)

Never stop stopping.

[–]Hadramal 4ポイント5ポイント  (0子コメント)

I well remember an episode of Time Team where they discuss how most of the stone from earlier buildings ends up in someones new property as it's much easier to reuse stone than cut new one. They go into a pub and the expert remarks that the stone columns we see are quite likely roman in origin...

Watching Time Team as a Swede gives the impression that wherever you dig in Britain, you will find SOMETHING at least medieval if you dig down about a yard.

[–]Khnagar 9ポイント10ポイント  (24子コメント)

Yeah, I get that. I live next to several burial mounds and you can barely put up a building here without running into postholes or the likes.

It's just that that type of stone burial coffin is such an iconic piece of roman archeology, and it doesnt look like any other type of stone used for masonry or the like in Britain, that I find it funny that they just used it for a flowerbed without giving more thought to it.

[–]sigma914 41ポイント42ポイント  (23子コメント)

Dunno, looks like a cut stone trough to me, we have 5 or 6 of them in the back yard, they're probably only a couple of hundred years old and look very similar to that coffin. Boxes cut out of stone blocks aren't rare

[–]danfanclub 39ポイント40ポイント  (14子コメント)

"probably only a couple hundred years old" LOL. (American here)

[–]Khnagar 6ポイント7ポイント  (3子コメント)

No, that's a fair point to make. They're usually not as weathered and old though, and horse troughs will not have the same dimensions as a stone coffin for a child.

But horse troughs are probably less likely to haunt your place though, so there is that.

[–]Maklo_Never_Forget 7ポイント8ポイント  (2子コメント)

This may sound really stupid but is the coffin the grey box in the picture? If so, where is the lid?

[–]Khnagar 13ポイント14ポイント  (1子コメント)

Yes, the grey stone box they use for flowers. Its not known when it was dug up or what was done to the lid, it could have been missing for literally hundreds of years.

[–]Maklo_Never_Forget 7ポイント8ポイント  (0子コメント)

Ah that makes sense. I thought it just stood there out in the open under some bushes for centuries and couldn't really wrap my head around how the villa was burried but the coffin was not..

[–]Naphtalian 2ポイント3ポイント  (0子コメント)

Did it still contain bones? If not, I wouldn't have suspected it. I've never seen a stone coffin.

[–]isakmp 3ポイント4ポイント  (6子コメント)

I have no clue about archaeology

Watch some Time Team episodes. I miss Time Team.

[–]ryanpdx 15ポイント16ポイント  (0子コメント)

"perfectly preserved" is just headline clickbait. It's better described as well preserved mosaic and slightly preserved villa foundations rather than "perfectly preserved roman villa"

[–]dutch4264 175ポイント176ポイント  (13子コメント)

Well, kids we're going to have to find another place for you to play table tennis..

[–]theanswriz42 86ポイント87ポイント  (8子コメント)

This was my first thought too. "Sorry kids, no table tennis for the foreseeable future, the Romans have put a stop to it."

[–]sscspagftphbpdh17 13ポイント14ポイント  (1子コメント)

But dad! You promised!

[–]Chinesinator 20ポイント21ポイント  (0子コメント)

"You make a valid point, child."

Travels back in time to prevent Roman invasion.

[–]LudovicoSpecs 57ポイント58ポイント  (12子コメント)

Looks like the guy is a really talented rug designer and created a rug to duplicate the mosaic, holes and all.

[–]Outlaw_Jose_Cuervo 34ポイント35ポイント  (8子コメント)

He has sold some for more than $20,000 "His clients include members of the British royal family, U2 and the Rolling Stones".

[–]concretepigeon 5ポイント6ポイント  (0子コメント)

I was wondering how a rug designer owns a property with a garden of that size in Wiltshire.

[–]Masterreeferr [スコア非表示]  (0子コメント)

Indeed, he makes a lot of money doing what he does. That's why he was able to afford a piece of property that even 2000 years ago was being used by someone rich.

[–]PointerExceptional 2ポイント3ポイント  (0子コメント)

Very talented rugger he is.

[–]mjcart03 76ポイント77ポイント  (32子コメント)

Too bad I live in the states and will never luck upon ancient Roman ruins in my backyard =(

[–]Maklo_Never_Forget 243ポイント244ポイント  (11子コメント)

It would be of much more significance if you do though.

[–]Prof-Oak- 17ポイント18ポイント  (4子コメント)

Here in Italy it's more of an annoyance, some years ago they had to expand a town's cemetery close to me, and during the excavations they found roman houses, they covered them up with dirt and built the cemetery over it.

[–]im_cody 4ポイント5ポイント  (1子コメント)

Just bury one or more people there and in 100 years or less it will be the find of the century for someone else!

[–]NoviceElectromancer 8ポイント9ポイント  (0子コメント)

Just make sure you never unearth an ancient Indian burial ground.

[–]woodenboatguy 45ポイント46ポイント  (2子コメント)

TIL I should have gone into the rug-design business. Roman villa or no, that's a hell of a nice spread to put together doing just that to bring home the bacon.

[–]MayorMoonbeam 37ポイント38ポイント  (9子コメント)

Well that's a shitty thing to find in your yard. There goes his gardening or his plans for a shed or small garage.

[–]dammitkarissa 8ポイント9ポイント  (4子コメント)

Yes I'm curious if the state provides any compensation? Guys property is properly fucked. Would they ask him to move do you think?

[–]cock-a-doodle-doo 4ポイント5ポイント  (0子コメント)

My parents live in the village in question. My father is on the Parish Council. They are to discuss this matter soon.

Additionally they found a lead Roman coffin in one of our fields a few years back. It's a fairly active area for Roman discoveries.

[–]Hvaldi 16ポイント17ポイント  (0子コメント)

Arthur "No-Sheds" Jackson

[–]CorporalThornberry 2ポイント3ポイント  (1子コメント)

I'd be ecstatic if I found something like that in my back yard. History is the shit.

[–]h46 12ポイント13ポイント  (1子コメント)

I imagine this guy opening his backyard porch door and going "huh!"

[–]sangbum60090 10ポイント11ポイント  (3子コメント)

It's crazy thinking how many important relics are lying under modern civilization, never to be found.

[–]TheNathanNS 2ポイント3ポイント  (2子コメント)

Yeah, kind of makes me think, I wonder if I've ever been close to some ancient artifact, that's buried about 30ft underground or something.

[–]Thrishmal 2ポイント3ポイント  (1子コメント)

I think about this more than is healthy, lol. I often dream of having penetrating "value vision" that can see important and expensive ancient items or natural resources around me underground or through walls.

[–]moc_tidder_www 2ポイント3ポイント  (0子コメント)

Ha, you're like the geeky version of every teen boy ever. I definitely had fantasies about seeing through things to spot valuable "natural resources". I just wasn't thinking ground or gold...

[–]Funtycuck 402ポイント403ポイント  (100子コメント)

Roman emperor having a residence in Briton seems doubtful its very far from the centre of the empire.

[–]duckshoe2 185ポイント186ポイント  (26子コメント)

Septimus Severus was in residence in Britain, and the dates estimated by the archeologists fit with his reign. Slaughtering the locals does work up an appetite, too, which would explain the oysters. Seriously, it's more probably a general or a governor rather than an emperor, but it's hypothetically possible.

[–]Funtycuck 31ポイント32ポイント  (23子コメント)

Fairly sure that Septimus and his court was based in York though for his Scottish campaigns, not sure why he would have had a residence built so far south of Ebacorum.

[–]duckshoe2 44ポイント45ポイント  (15子コメント)

Aren't there just days when you want to loll around in the South, eating oysters and letting your generals do the work? Seriously, you're right; Agricola (not an emperor, but a big noise) would be a better fit, since he campaigned in Wales, but he's a little early. Maybe "some general or governor" is as close as we get.

[–]Funtycuck 12ポイント13ポイント  (12子コメント)

To be honest as a Brit I fail to see why any ruler of the known world would want to spend anytime in a wet cold land when they have palaces in the med :)

[–]Phil__TheThrill 13ポイント14ポイント  (5子コメント)

So that they can conquer it and make a nationload of money.

[–]Funtycuck 9ポイント10ポイント  (4子コメント)

From what many sources seem to say though Britain was barely worth the cost, Nero was supposedly considering abandoning it in response to Boudicca's rebellion.

[–]Phil__TheThrill 7ポイント8ポイント  (3子コメント)

Maybe for a nationload of slaves? Or pride? I don't know as much about Romans in Britain as I would like to.

[–]Funtycuck 15ポイント16ポイント  (1子コメント)

Tin, Copper, Iron, Silver and Gold were most likely the draw from what I have read, it might surprise many Brits but Wales in particular actually had fairly abundant gold mines, Roman mining techniques in wales are amazing to see. Pride is definitely a part too though Claudius supposedly did this to prove his military worth and may have showed up to 'finish the campaign'.

[–]Duke0fWellington 8ポイント9ポイント  (0子コメント)

Because every other place in the world has shit banter, also I've seen television programmes and films and the Romans were all British anyway

[–]Torgamous 2ポイント3ポイント  (0子コメント)

As a Brit I would expect you to understand the appeal of pointlessly large empires.

[–]hajenso 6ポイント7ポイント  (1子コメント)

*Eboracum

[–]Funtycuck 5ポイント6ポイント  (0子コメント)

Right you are my Latin spelling is truly heinous.

[–]Kaiserhawk 2ポイント3ポイント  (4子コメント)

Villa would often be used as a holiday home. Maybe this was the private retreat.

I doubt it was their home though.

[–]Bestpaperplaneever 190ポイント191ポイント  (25子コメント)

Moreover the Western Roman Empire no longer existed 1400 years ago.

[–]Funtycuck 96ポイント97ポイント  (11子コメント)

Yeah its weird they date it to the second century AD then say 1400 years ago...

[–]Bestpaperplaneever 194ポイント195ポイント  (1子コメント)

"The site has not been touched since its collapse 1,400 years ago.", so the title is misleading.

[–]GeneralJenkins 12ポイント13ポイント  (0子コメント)

Sounds like the building lived longer that the roman empire, which isnt seldom at all

[–]drmctesticles 9ポイント10ポイント  (0子コメント)

The 1400 date is when the structure supposedly collapsed. It is dated from the 2nd century AD.

[–]ethiopianwizard 5ポイント6ポイント  (2子コメント)

The article says the villa is from 180-220 AD, don't know where OP got the idea of 1400 years from. They may be implying that it was later used by the self-declared emperor Carausius.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carausian_Revolt

[–]balrogsdonthavewings 3ポイント4ポイント  (1子コメント)

If you read the article you'll see that the 1400 years comes from when the structure collapsed, not when it was built.

[–]TurtleTime25 18ポイント19ポイント  (7子コメント)

I just want to complement you on the use of "moreover". It's a nice word that doesn't get its time in the sun often enough.

[–]I_Am_Jacks_Scrotum 22ポイント23ポイント  (0子コメント)

However, because it's a conjunctive adverb, it probably should have a comma after it. "Moreover, the Western Roman Empire..."

EDIT: Not a preposition, a conjunctive adverb.

[–]scrooge1842 15ポイント16ポイント  (3子コメント)

Constantine the Great was proclaimed emporer in York.

[–]schlebb 10ポイント11ポイント  (1子コメント)

*Britain - A Briton is someone who lives in Britain. Sorry to be that guy!

[–]mento3 8ポイント9ポイント  (5子コメント)

You'd be surprised. Bear in mind there were often multiple emperors throughout the empire, either working together or trying to kill each other.

Constantine the Great a.k.a. Mr. Christianity, dude who founded Constantinople, spent a lot of time in Britain, and was actually proclaimed Emperor in York.

[–]PinnedWrists 4ポイント5ポイント  (0子コメント)

The local Roman govenor would have nice digs, though.

[–]Horus420 20ポイント21ポイント  (4子コメント)

Roman emperors would often campaign with legions to the edge of the Empire it would make sense that they would build a luxurious villa for the emperor and the elite that accompanied him to stay while he overlooks the governance or military campaign of the frontier province.

[–]CromulentEmbiggener 16ポイント17ポイント  (8子コメント)

Does this mean they're going to tear up his yard and possibly house?

[–]Processtour 25ポイント26ポイント  (2子コメント)

They had been using a baby's coffin as a flower pot.

[–]cum_farts_of_a_clown 13ポイント14ポイント  (0子コメント)

TIME TEAM SPECIAL!!!

[–]ErryDayApu 7ポイント8ポイント  (1子コメント)

So I know this is a stupid question, but in this area I'm completely ignorant so I make no apologies, but why exactly does this stuff all end up buried a couple of feet underground?

Like what are the steps to get it to that end? A house falls down and then people in history literally just ignored it until the present day, meanwhile dirt slowly got blown over it?

Or did people in the past literally bury the foundations after ripping it up, so that they could have use the land again?

[–]SplashyMcPants 9ポイント10ポイント  (0子コメント)

A house made of wood/mud/plaster falls down: within a few decades it's rotted and is basically a mound of dirt. It gets plowed into the soil, which is leveled, no trace remains. After a few centuries the plow soil is deep enough to bury anything at the original ground level, you're right, this is because dirt blows over it and settles, or because a farmer (maybe centuries earlier) was plowing a field around this collapsed building, got sick of going around it, and filled in the hole.

In the case of a stone structure (like this villa), when it falls down, everyone with a lick of sense and the need for a stone wall comes through and takes the stone away - the house is now a quarry. They leave the buried (at the time) foundations, including the floors. Over time, people come along and reuse the floor areas, sometimes building a new structure over the top, sometimes not.

After a while, as dirt accumulates and things rot, it gets forgotten, and the topsoil is deep enough to bury the foundations. It gets plowed for agriculture or a town develops over the top, or a housing estate or whatever, and by that time it's deep enough down that you won't know it's there unless you dig pretty deep, like this guy did with his electrical cable trench. Most modern plowing doesn't go deep enough to find it, although you'd see little pieces coming up as the plow soil is turned over.

Also, villas usually had stone foundations and stone half-walls, with wood/mud/daub walls on top of those - think of a modern, half-brick/half wood house, it's the same concept. Just like a modern wood house it would eventually just rot away and leave no trace except for wall foundations or stains in the ground.

So when you dig all this up again, what you find are the foundation (or the trenches where it was before the stone was taken), roof tiles, maybe some plaster and some pottery. Or in this case, a mosaic floor that was just left and eventually disappeared under a layer of dirt.

[–]Baryshnikov_Rifle 10ポイント11ポイント  (0子コメント)

A perfectly preserved Roman well and the stone coffin of a Roman child, which went unnoticed and was being used as a flower bed

Literally pushing up daisies.

[–]MrFerkles 4ポイント5ポイント  (0子コメント)

The part about it possibly being home to an emperor is misleading, and seems like utter speculation. It belonged to a member of the social elite, who was impressively wealthy, and at the dating around 600AD was unlikely to have been the emperor given the capital of the Roman empire at the time was Constantinople (since 330AD). The empire was rapidly losing grasp on western provinces.

Without a full list of the finds and pictures, I'd be hesitant to offer a suggestion, but just based on location and social factors of the empire at the time... Emperor is looking like a slim chance.

Edit: Still a really exciting find for British archaeology though.

[–]odifferous 6ポイント7ポイント  (5子コメント)

If there has been constant civilization going on in the area, how could a structure be burried in 600 years or so unless it was purposely burried by invading countries?

[–]BuckminsterJones 24ポイント25ポイント  (4子コメント)

You'd be surprised how quickly stuff can get buried. Leaf-litter piles up, weeds grow in the litter, soil builds.

[–]Phil__TheThrill 2ポイント3ポイント  (1子コメント)

They were also probably busy doing primitive feudal stuff amongst themselves, fighting off Nords or Frechies, or burning witches for about a thousand years after the building fell down...

Doubt that anyone even cared enough to try and clean the rubble after it collapsed.

[–]cool_slowbro 2ポイント3ポイント  (0子コメント)

Seems like "perfectly preserved" doesn't mean what I think it means.

[–]epiphony11 2ポイント3ポイント  (0子コメント)

They unknowingly used a child's coffin as a flower bed. Talk about recycling the dead!

[–]cthomas1489 2ポイント3ポイント  (0子コメント)

So what happens to this man's land / buildings? Can he continue living there or will they end up buying him out and asking him to move?

[–]Fire_away_Fire_away 2ポイント3ポイント  (0子コメント)

A stone planter which had been holding geraniums by Mr Irwin's kitchen was also identified by experts as a Roman child's coffin

[–]TheCarpetPissers 2ポイント3ポイント  (0子コメント)

That's amazing, but can you imagine how much of a pain in the ass this would be to have in your backyard? I see him going, "that's awesome, emperors, Romans, yeah....but about that cable I was running...where do we stand on that?"

[–]cock-a-doodle-doo 2ポイント3ポイント  (0子コメント)

I grew up on a farm in this village. They found a lead Roman coffin (we're told a sign of someone important) in one of our fields about 15 years back. It's a fairly active area for Roman discoveries.