Archaeologists have discovered 10,000 treasures suggesting they unearthed an ancient Roman stop

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• An archaeologically rich area of ​​England’s Cotswolds region has yielded another discovery during a highway construction project.

• Some of the more than 10,000 artifacts discovered date back more than 12,000 years.

• A deposit of objects from the Roman era is one of the highlights of the discovery.

In a modern effort to extend England’s A417 motorway over a three-mile stretch in the county of Gloucestershire, archaeologists have discovered something far from modern: an ancient trove of treasures and artifacts from the Roman times dating from the Mesolithic, Neolithic, Bronze and Iron Ages. Age.

Experts believe the 85-acre area in the Cotswolds was likely a Roman ‘service station’ with an ancient past.

“We knew the area had clear archaeological potential, but the results of our fieldwork exceeded all expectations,” Alex Thomson, project manager of Oxford Cotswold Archaeology, said in a statement. “We were treated to some excellent archeology which tells a fascinating story about this corner of the Cotswolds through thousands of years.”

And he means up to 12,000 years ago. The trove of more than 10,000 artifacts (when collected, they total more than 220 pounds) found at the site include prehistoric flint tools, pottery, countless coins and jewelry. There were also items from World War II.

The team initially discovered an Iron Age “banjo enclosure”, likely a settlement that served as a hub for important activities, such as feasting. The site was akin to a Roman “gas station,” Thomson told the BBCand probably explains why such a range of artifacts were found.

“We believe our settlement was used to help people traveling along the road and probably for something to do with horses,” he said. “We have a lovely Roman building that may have been used as a stable or potentially as a place where you could spend the night and have your horses looked after.”

One of the key discoveries was a Roman Cupid figurine, an example of “emotional everyday objects from thousands of years ago that give a unique window into life through the ages”, said Thomson. “It wouldn’t have been cheap. This is a truly unusual and special discovery.

Other notable finds include a range of brooches (probably from people working in the area) and a Roman nail pick featuring a disc-shaped bone bead. “The Romans were very clean people,” Thomson told the BBC. “So you quite often find nail cleansers, little cosmetic sets, and things like that. »

Once something is discovered, the exploration continues. “Our detailed archaeological excavations,” Jim Keyte, trunk road archeology project manager for the A417, said in a statement, “have revealed substantial new knowledge about how our ancestors lived and used this landscape. now the detailed analysis and interpretation of the findings.

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