Caerleon Legionary Fortress

Priory Field Excavations 2010

Cardiff University and UCL are undertaking a second campaign of archaeological excavations and geophysical surveys in Caerleon in August and September 2010 to continue the investigation of the remains of Isca, the Second Augustan Legion's permanent fortress in Britain. This website is being updated with regular reports of our progress.

The project is focusing on the continued area excavation of one wing of a courtyard building in Priory Field (probably a warehouse or store-building).

This project, directed by Dr. Peter Guest and Dr. Andrew Gardner, is generously supported by Cadw, National Roman Legion Museum, and many members of the Caerleon community.

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Read our current excavation blog

The Aims of the Project

The results of the excavation of the courtyard building will provide us with new information about the storage facilities, provisioning and supply of a legion in Britain. Also, there are already good indications that the site holds important evidence concerning the history of Caerleon at the end of the Roman period in Britain, when it is believed that the Second Augustan Legion was moved from Isca to Cardiff and finally Richborough in Kent.

This is the first research excavation conducted on a military store-building building in Britain: store-buildings are a largely unknown feature of legionary fortresses not just in Britain, but across the empire. While buildings of potentially similar function have been located in fortresses along the Rhine and Danube, these structures have not been excavated using modern techniques like those being employed at Caerleon.

More on the project's background

Visiting the Site

Public tours will be available twice daily during the excavation season, which runs from August 9th - September 17th 2010 (excluding Mondays 16, 23 Aug & 6, 13 Sept). A guide will meet visitors at the gate to Priory Field on The Broadway (next to the amphitheatre car park) at 11 am and 2.30 pm.

Contacts

Email the Directors at:
andrew.gardner@ucl.ac.uk
guestp@Cardiff.ac.uk

More about the project directors

Useful Links

Caerleon.net: www.caerleon.net∞
Caerleon Research Committee: www.cf.ac.uk/hisar/archaeology/crc/∞
Cardiff School of History & Archaeology: www.cf.ac.uk/hisar/aboutus/archaeology∞
Cadw: www.cadw.wales.gov.uk∞
Council for British Archaeology: www.britarch.ac.uk∞
Festival of British Archaeology: festival.britarch.ac.uk/index.php∞
National Roman Legion Museum: www.museumwales.ac.uk/en/caerleon∞
UCL Institute of Archaeology: www.ucl.ac.uk/archaeology∞

Project Sponsors and Supporters

We are very grateful for the support of:
Cadw, Cardiff University, UCL, National Roman Legion Museum, the Caerleon Research Committee, Current Archaeology, and the Caerleon community.

References

Gardner, A. and Guest, P. 2009. 'Fortress Isca: A mighty Roman garrison', Current Archaeology 226, 31-37.

Guest, P and Young, T. 2006 'Mapping Isca: geophysical investigation of Priory Field, Caerleon', Archaeologia Cambrensis 155, 117-33.

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