Join us for January’s Archaeology Online to find out about Isca, the Roman Legionary Fortress at Caerleon.
The legionary fortress at Caerleon, known to the Romans as Isca, was established in AD 74 or 75 during the final campaigns to subdue the fierce native tribes of western Britain, notably the Silures who had provided the most determined resistance to the Roman advance.
Isca was the headquarters of Legio Secunda Augusta (the Second Augustan Legion), that had taken part in the original invasion in 43 and, under the command of the future emperor Vespasian, had already brought large parts of southern and south-western England under Roman control. The history of Caerleon is also the history of the conquest, assimilation and acculturation of the Silures and the other British tribes in Wales.
The fortress at Caerleon offers a very rare opportunity to investigate a legionary base and archaeologists have been working in and around Caerleon for over 100 years. This talk will present the results of three recent large research projects, including geophysical surveys, open area excavation of a store building, as well as evaluation excavations of a large extramural suburb between the Amphitheatre and the River Usk.
Archaeology Online
This talk is part of Archaeology Online, a series of monthly evening lectures brought to you by Bristol Museums, Bath and Counties Archaeological Society, Bristol and Avon Archaeological Society and Bristol & Gloucestershire Archaeological Society.
