Mystery Beneath Manchester: Ancient Roman Road Found Just Inches Underground—What Secrets Does It Hold?
“It’s certainly the best Roman archaeology I’ve seen in the city centre for 20 years and probably more than that,” said Ian Miller, an archaeologist with the Greater Manchester Archaeological Advisory Service.
The Manchester Area’s Role In The History Of Roman Britain
CivicThis discovery also has greater implications for the surrounding archaeological sites in Manchester.
This road is far from the only Roman-era archaeological find that’s been made in Manchester. In fact, the road is right nearby the remains of the Roman fort of Mamucium.
Mamucium dates back to 78 C.E., and the civilian settlements within the fort were first excavated in the early 1970s. Since its first excavation, archaeologists have found more than 10,000 artifacts at the site.
In the 1980s, the fort and the surrounding area became the U.K.’s first Urban Heritage Park. Archaeologists think it’s possible that the newly-uncovered road could have functioned as the north exit of the Mamucium fort.
CivicFound mere inches below the surface, the road remains incredibly well-preserved despite dating as far back as the first century C.E.
The newly-discovered road is also close to several archaeological excavation sites just to the south, also from the 1970s and ’80s. These excavations uncovered other civilian Roman settlements, revealing new insights about Roman life in the region in the centuries before the empire fell.
“In some respects, the latest excavation was the missing piece of the jigsaw that will hopefully link to those two together,” said Miller.
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