Villa Rustica (Chilgrove 1)
In Chilgrove -Tal in Sussex in southern England the remains were of a Roman Villa Rustica be excavated to a large extent. It is known as Chilgrove 1 in research because the remains of another Roman villa, called Chilgrove 2 , have been found in the same valley . In 1963 a pillar was discovered while plowing the fields. The local authorities were notified and the villa was excavated that same year.
The excavations showed that there was probably a modest settlement in the place of the later villa as early as the Iron Age. At the end of the first century, under Roman rule, a simple wooden house was built here. The house was expanded at an unspecified point in time. A building made of flint, which is a popular building material in the area, was constructed, which consisted of a row of at least four rooms and another room set back. Little can be said about this building as it was partially destroyed by the later villa. At the beginning of the fourth century the villa was expanded, with parts of the old walls being reused. The main building was now 41.56 m long and 10.97 m wide at its widest point. The walls were made of flint again. A veranda formed the front of the villa. Behind it there were five rooms in a row, the middle one was decorated with a mosaic. Two more rooms were at the rear of the building. A bath was built on the left and a larger room on the right had hypocausts and was also decorated with a mosaic, which was found to be poorly preserved. In the bathroom there were numerous fragments of red wall paintings that could no longer be added to a decoration.
To the southeast of the actual villa stood a wall with a gate. Leaning against the wall were other buildings, which, however, were very poorly preserved and in some cases could only be recognized by the rubble. It should have been mainly farm buildings.
These finds show that the villa was once richly furnished and point to wealthy residents. The lower part of a statuette of Fortuna was found , the fragment of a capital from a column and the rest of a small column that may have served as the base for a statue. The site was generally rich in small finds. These small finds include various fibulae (e.g. Nauheim fibulae ), pieces of jewelry, various iron tools, keys, bone needles, glass fragments and numerous ceramics, most of which were produced in Britain. Terra Sigillata , on the other hand, has hardly been documented (only three fragments).
Numerous animal bones were found during the excavations. Most of them belong to cattle. Sheep and goats were the second most common, both animals are difficult to distinguish on the basis of bones. All other animals, such as pigs, horses, dogs, deer and birds, on the other hand, are only slightly documented. The cattle fall into three age groups. There were old animals around three to four years old that might have been raised for cattle. There were animals that were around two to three years old and were probably kept mainly for the meat. After all, there were young animals that might die young, but were also slaughtered young for the meat.
The villa was no longer used as a villa, but for other purposes, perhaps by the middle or end of the fourth century. A fire appears to have devastated the villa without it being rebuilt. There is evidence that some rooms were converted into an iron forge. In one room the burial of a toddler (under two years old) was embedded under the floor. The last coins found in the villa are from Emperor Magnentius (353 AD). It was probably abandoned shortly afterwards.
Individual evidence
- ^ Alan Outen: The Animal Bones , in: Alec Down: Chichester Excavations. Vol. IV, Chichester 1979, pp. 113-121.
literature
- Alec Down : Chichester Excavations Vol. IV, Chichester 1979, pp. 53-79.
Web links
Coordinates: 50 ° 54 ′ 19.6 ″ N , 0 ° 48 ′ 52.6 ″ W.