New Discovery Made at Archaeological Site in Brough

An exciting discovery has uncovered in The Burrs, a playing field in the East Yorkshire town of Brough after archaeological surveys of Petuaria (the Roman name for Brough) have taken place. A Roman fort has been detected by a geographical survey using ground penetrating radar. The discovery was part of the “Petuaria ReVisited” project in Brough. Petuaria is thought to be the tribal centre of the Parisi, the people who lived in Roman East Yorkshire.

An archaeological dig is now taking place in The Burrs by Hull University individuals, Petuaria ReVisited members and volunteers. I was one volunteer who decided to go and help with the dig on Wednesday 26th August. I wasn’t sure what to expect when I arrived but I was told that what we were looking for was a Roman theatre, or something of the sort, as a D-shaped structure has been detected within the excavation trench they are working on.

Although secure walls have not yet been uncovered, when I arrived there was clearly rubble which showed the D-shaped structure outlining. During my time of digging there, many interesting artefacts were uncovered such as bones, pottery, roof tiling, jet, charcoal, fossils and much more! For the second half of my day, I helped with a technique called magnetometry in a near-by field to see if we could uncover more of the Roman trench. Magnetometry is used to map out patterns of magnetism in the soil. Where the soil has a slightly different magnetic orientation to the surrounding earth indicates the presence of sub-surface archaeology. When looking at the findings on the laptop, it wasn’t entirely clear but it seemed as though there were signs of ditches and pits in the field.

Dr Peter Halkon, lead archaeologist of the Petuaria ReVisited project and senior lecturer in Archaeology at the University of Hull has said: “Although Roman activity has been known on the site for many years, especially through small scale excavation since the 1930s, with discoveries including a Roman fort and walled enclosure, and more recent developer funded digs, this is the first time anything like a true plan of the town and its buildings has been found. This new work has focused on the Burrs Playing field at the centre of the modern town. This is an exciting discovery of national significance. The GPR results are amazing, revealing some imposing Roman buildings and many other structures. Although much work is needed to thoroughly understand the survey results, what we have seen already will change our opinion of this site completely and provide important new evidence to our understanding of Roman Britain.”