Isca: the Roman legionary fortress at Caerleon
Caerleon Discovery
Learn more about the Caerleon discoveries in this interactive publication.
Archaeologists from Cardiff University are involved in several major research projects at Caerleon, the site of the legionary fortress known to the Romans as Isca. Headquarters of the Second Augustan Legion, which took part in the invasion ordered by the Emperor Claudius in AD 43, Isca is uniquely important for the study of the conquest, pacification and colonisation of Britannia by the Roman army. It was one of only 3 permanent legionary fortresses in Britain and, unlike the sites at Chester and York, its archaeological remains lie relatively undisturbed beneath the modern town of Caerleon and provide a unique opportunity to study the Roman legions in Britain.
Isca was founded in AD 74 or 75 during the final campaigns against the fierce native tribes of western Britain, notably the Silures in South Wales who had resisted the Romans’ advance for over a generation. At this time there were about 30 legions in the Empire, each consisting of over 5,000 heavily-armed and highly disciplined professional soldiers who enlisted in the army for at least 20 years. The backbone of the army, legionaries were the conquerors and builders of the Roman Empire who brought with them foreign ideas, practices and traditions that would change the society and culture of Britain forever.
Mapping Isca: the Roman legionary fortress at Caerleon and its environs
Results of magnetometer surveys outside the fortress. © GeoArch
Between 2006 and 2011 Cardiff undergraduates taking the Surveying and Prospection module undertook ground-breaking geophysical surveys at Caerleon during the annual Easter field course. Led by Dr Tim Young, the teams surveyed all remaining open ground within the fortress as well as large areas outside its walls to the west. Discoveries include at least 18 military buildings inside the fortress, including barracks, granaries, stores and a very large metal workshop.
One of the most exciting discoveries was the identification of a complex of very large monumental buildings outside the fortress between the River Usk and the amphitheatre. This new suburb was completely unknown and it is a major addition to our knowledge of Roman Britain. Their size and layout suggests these were public buildings that could have included marketplaces, administrative buildings, bath-houses and possibly temples. This suburb looks like it should be at the centre of a town or city, but the surveys found no evidence for the presence of a large civilian population living around Caerleon. The complex is the focus of evaluation excavations planned for August 2011, which aim to investigate the histories and functions of these buildings.
This project is now finished and the results are being written up for publication by Drs Peter Guest and Tim Young. Funding was provided by Cardiff University and Cadw.
Take a virtual tour of the new discovery
Priory Field: excavating a legionary store building
Excavating in Priory Field, 2010. © Cardiff University / UCL
A major joint excavation was undertaken in 2008 and 2010 by staff and students from Cardiff University and the Institute of Archaeology UCL on the site of a large store or warehouse within the fortress at Caerleon. Originally identified during geophysical surveys of Priory Field in 2006, the building was square in plan and consisted of four ranges of rooms around a square internal courtyard. The excavation revealed about 70% of the front range, including the building’s main paved entranceway, a guard chamber, a possible stairway, and four small undecorated square rooms believed to be store rooms.
The store appears to have collapsed or been partly demolished during the later Roman period, after which more superficial stone buildings were built up against the original building’s front wall. These later structures were poorly built and at least one fell down, probably not long after it was erected. At the moment it is unclear if this phase of occupation at Caerleon belongs to the Roman period or the years after the withdrawal of Roman authority from Britain in the early 5th century.
The excavations produced many thousands of finds, including a remarkable scatter of armour and other military equipment lying above the latest floor in one of the store rooms. The armour includes numerous fragments of lorica segmentata (iron strip armour), as well as pieces of more elaborate bronze scale armour, probably worn by soldiers and their officers on parade and at official ceremonies. Finds of armour such as this are surprisingly rare and the fragments were lifted in blocks to be excavated under laboratory conditions at the National Museum Cardiff.
The excavations were directed Drs Peter Guest and Andrew Gardner who are currently working on the post-excavation analysis and publication. Funding was provided by Cardiff University, UCL, and Cadw.