Villa find indicates larger Roman control over Britain than thought
By ANIWednesday, July 28, 2010
LONDON - An old villa recently discovered by archaeologists suggests that Roman control over Britain stretched even further than first thought.
The villa belongs to the 4th Century and is situated near Aberystwyth.
The villa is likely to have belonged to a wealthy landowner, with pottery and coin finds on the site indicating occupation in the late 3rd and early 4th Centuries AD.
It was roofed with local slates, which were cut for a pentagonal roof. The walls were built of local stone and there was a cobbled yard.
Roman villas were owned by wealthy landowners and are common throughout southern England and south Wales, but rare in mid and west Wales.
“The discovery raises significant new questions about the regional economy and society in late Roman Wales, and raises the possibility of future villa discoveries in the surrounding countryside,” Dr Toby Driver, of the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales. (ANI)
