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I finally pinned down a Roman road in my own backyard
About three years ago I bought a house outside York, UK, and noticed a weird straight ridge running through the back garden. It was maybe 2 feet high and 50 feet long, covered in weeds and rubble. I dug a test pit and found compacted gravel and broken pottery, but I could not tell if it was actually Roman or just old farm stuff. I spent the next two summers reading old maps, checking LiDAR data online, and even bugging the local museum curator at the pub. It took me 18 months and three different experts before one agreed it was likely part of a minor Roman route connecting York to the coast. Has anyone else dealt with a feature on their own property that took forever to confirm?
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fionarodriguez10d agoMost Upvoted
And that right there is exactly why I love this. @elliots49 totally gets it. It took me almost two years to figure out that the weird bump in my pasture was actually a medieval boundary ditch, not just a random old dirt pile. I pulled up old maps, talked to three different historians, and even had a geologist friend come out with ground-penetrating radar before anyone would say it was something real. The best part is how once you finally confirm it, you see the whole landscape differently. You start noticing every little rise and dip and wonder what else is hiding under the grass. It's maddening and amazing all at once.
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