ANCIENT COIN FOUND IN ROMAN-ERA MOSAIC

A Roman villa that lay undisturbed for more than 1,000 years is finally giving up its secrets.

Archaeologists believe a site just uncovered at Butleigh, near Glastonbury, helps to fill in some of the missing gaps of Somerset's history.

For centuries the piece of land, known as Beggar's Field, has seen little more activity than the pasturing of cattle.

With permission of the tenant farmer Richard Chaddock, Absolute Archaeology has recently completed its second training dig of the site, uncovering a late Roman villa that shows evidence of continual occupation into the so-called "Dark Ages".

There has been a wealth of finds, from rare Roman coins to pieces of Roman pottery, a quern stone, and a limited amount of metalwork.

But the most exciting discoveries uncovered in the trench included foundations of massive walls, an industrial hearth, a corn-drier and parts of mosaic floors later paved over with flagstones.

The very bottom layer – the earliest sign of occupation of this building – is a mosaic floor which, helpfully, had within its membrane a Roman coin dedicated to the emperor Magnentius who ruled until 353AD.

Paul said: "The evidence of the site indicates a number of different uses of the building over a substantial amount of time. We have several layers of floors on top of each other.

"What we have here is a high-status late-Roman building with mosaics.

To read the complete article, see: Secrets of Roman villa's past revealed after more than 1,000 years (www.thisissomerset.co.uk/news/Secrets-Roman-villa
-s-past-revealed/article-2571645-detail/article.html)

Wayne Homren, Editor

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