Medieval City Discovered in England
A project to discover more about the dwellings within and surrounding the Iron Age fortress town of Old Sarum in Wiltshire has produced some stunning results.
Old Sarum, which combines a royal castle and cathedral within an Iron Age fortification, was the original site of Salisbury, which now lies two miles away. It was originally an Iron Age fort, established around 400 BC, and for 150 years it was a major centre of government. It was occupied by the Romans after the conquest of Britain in AD 43 and the Normans and Saxons have also left their mark there.
This latest survey of the site was carried out by the University of Southampton and concentrated on the inner and outer baileys of what would have been the fort.
The latest scanning techniques were used by the archeology students to uncover a network of buildings at the 11th Century fort. The results include evidence of a series of large structures, possibly defences, with open areas of ground behind, possibly for mustering resources or people.
Modern techniques used to survey the land included magnetometry, earth resistance, ground penetrating radar and electric resistivity tomography, which uses electrodes to probe underground.
Old Sarum welcomes school visits and is run by English Heritage. Click HERE to find out more about organising a visit for your students.
To find out more read the BBC News article about the discovery.
