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Did Boudica live near Norwich?

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Ashley Washington
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« on: August 21, 2010, 03:19:38 am »

Did Boudica live near Norwich?

DAN GRIMMER

Last updated: 19/08/2010 11:00:00



Dr Will Bowden with the skeleton discovered at Caistor St Edmund during the last excavations.

Archaeologists are set to unearth further secrets of a Roman town on the outskirts of Norwich - and are hoping to discover evidence linking the settlemt to East Anglia's Iceni queen Boudica.

Channel 4's Time Team will be filming the excavations at Caistor St Edmund, which are the first within the Roman walls of the site for 75 years.

The Roman town of Venta Icenorum lies beneath the fields at the site but historians believe it might have been built on top of a previous Iceni settlement - perhaps even the home of the warrior queen Boudica.

Archaeologists will also be searching for clues to discover the exact date when the Roman streets were originally laid out and if the town continued to be occupied beyond the Roman period.

Parts of the site were originally excavated between 1929-1935 following the publication of dramatic aerial photographs showing the streets and public buildings.

Since then, the site was left undisturbed, until last year when Dr Will Bowden and his team began excavating the field to the south of the town.

On that occasion the remains of a 4th century Roman buried in a shallow grave was uncovered - but Dr Bowden, from the University of Nottingham, said he hoped to find evidence that a settlement was there before the Romans.

He said geophysical surveys had revealed possible prehistoric features beneath the town - and he hoped the excavation would shed new light on those.

He said: “We are reasonably confident that there was an Iron Age settlement here before the Romans and if we can find evidence of that it would go some way to being able to say something about what happened here.

“It might be that the Romans built on top of a tribal centre as a means of repressing them, or it might have been built here because one of the tribal kings was friendly with the Romans. We just don't know.

“But if it is a major Iron Age settlement then it is certain that Boudica would have been aware of it, might have visited it or might even have lived here - we have no real idea.”

Dr Bowden said it was a privilege to be able to carry out the dig at Caistor and joked: “I'd like to find a huge chariot with Boudica's name on it written just below the windscreen - that would make my career!”

The dig will start on Saturday, August 21 and continue until Saturday, September 11, with visitors welcome to visit for free to watch the archaeologists in action.

Visitors will also get the chance to see the full scale of the Roman site as the streets of the town will be painted in white on the grass, courtesy of former Norwich High School for Girls groundsman Fred Marsham.

The town is a Scheduled Ancient Monument owned by the Norfolk Archaeological Trust and managed in partnership with South Norfolk Council.

Keith Weeks, South Norfolk councillor and member of the Caistor Advisory Board said: “This is a moment of immense excitement and one we always hoped for.

“After the success of last year's excavations to the south of the site, we are now looking forward to seeing what treasures will be unearthed within the actual walls of the town.”

Funding for the new project has been raised partly through the University of Nottingham and partly through Caistor Roman Project Ltd, a charitable company set up to help the work.

The documentary being made by Tony Robinson and his Time Team crew is likely to be screened in the new year.

http://www.edp24.co.uk/content/edp24/news/story.aspx?brand=EDPOnline&category=News&tBrand=EDPOnline&tCategory=xDefault&itemid=NOED18+Aug+2010+13%3A02%3A53%3A417
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