Posted on 01/30/2012 4:03:09 AM PST by SunkenCiv
A recently discovered mysterious "winged" structure in England, which in the Roman period may have been used as a temple, presents a puzzle for archaeologists, who say the building has no known parallels.
Built around 1,800 years ago, the structure was discovered in Norfolk, in eastern England, just to the south of the ancient town of Venta Icenorum. The structure has two wings radiating out from a rectangular room that in turn leads to a central room.
"Generally speaking, [during] the Roman Empire people built within a fixed repertoire of architectural forms," said William Bowden, a professor at the University of Nottingham, who reported the find in the most recent edition of the Journal of Roman Archaeology. The investigation was carried out in conjunction with the Norfolk Archaeological and Historical Research Group.
The winged shape of the building appears to be unique in the Roman Empire, with no other example known. "It's very unusual to find a building like this where you have no known parallels for it," Bowden told LiveScience. "What they were trying to achieve by using this design is really very difficult to say."
The building appears to have been part of a complex that includes a villa to the north and at least two other structures to the northeast and northwest. An aerial photograph suggests the existence of an oval or polygonal building with an apse located to the east...
Sometime after the demise of this wing-shaped structure, another building, this one decorated, was built over it. Archaeologists found post holes from it with painted wall plaster inside.
(Excerpt) Read more at livescience.com ...
If they find a big rubberband by it, then it was a slingshot that fell over.
Yup! That’s the guy!!
Actually...it’s easy for him to believe in Aliens... because, he IS one!
Perhaps the builders were trying to maximize the villa's exposure to sunlight in those high latitudes. The eastern walls in both wings would be warmed by the morning sun while the western walls would get it in the afternoon.
It's a cool, damp climate, one in which the Romans might have craved sunlight, so unlike the Mediterranean where they would've sought shelter from it.
I was watching HGTV the other day so I know that these were kitchens added-on so that the homeowner could rent out part of the house to help pay his mortgage. Those $40,000 additions seem to increase the house value by $300,000. I’m adding four kitchens to my house.
Hey hey hey, don't be dissing Giorgio now! He's a genius because he can extrapolate ANYTHING into a case for aliens. Nobody like him. LOL
I do like this show actually. I come to it from the point of view of my Christian faith. I think they are on to something, but it's bass ackwards. They totally discount the existence of spiritual beings...big mistake.
I didn’t see any mention of where in Norfolk this is located. I suppose they are trying to keep the location secret until excavation is complete.
That middle picture...doesn’t that look like the footprint left by a Klingon Bird of Prey?
If it was temporary like they surmise, perhaps it was built to capture Boudicca and her army.
If it is near the coast it could have been a gathering place to kick off a campaign inland.
Norfolk has a lot of water, swampy land and farmland and I’m curious if this might be near Yarmouth.
Probably some Roman figured out he could get a grant to build some half baked building he had drawn up. Rome was giving out grants for silly stuff all the time back then. Eventually they raised the debt ceiling one too many times and well, uh ..., you know the rest of the story.
The article indicates that the foundation was insubstantial and the roof was light, probably thatch. That would suggest the possibility of a temporary structure. The site is on a hill above the city. Perhaps to host a ceremony of some kind? The V shape almost suggests a theater.
It resulted in a family tradition of bizarre residences for a long line of inventor-builder descendants, that culminated in the early 20th Century, in America.
Wait a minute. Wasn’t there a discovery that was posted in the last year about an unusual layout of a Roman villa near Ostia (or somewhere on the coast south of Rome) that might have belonged to Marius?
LOL!
The Romans came up with the hypercaust system, and used it in particular in colder places (such as Britain), so if this lacks it, that might be even more unusual.
Or a inn / hotel, the Roman Empire had tons of those. No big chains though.
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