'It's like being in Tutankhamun’s tomb' - Teesdale dig uncovers trading links with Romans

Watch Kris Jepson's report on the Teesdale dig that has uncovered evidence of possible trading links between Iron Age farmers and the Romans.

Archaeologists have discovered evidence of possible trading links between Iron Age farmers and the Romans in Teesdale.

The dig, which has run throughout the summer by Altogether Archaeology, has uncovered the foundations of Iron Age round houses, but also some Roman pottery and even a Roman spearhead in the settlement.

Spearheaded by the onsite archaeologist, Dr Robert Young, who used to be the inspector of ancient monuments for Historic England in the North East, he said it cannot be understated how important this site could be.

He told ITV News Tyne Tees: "If you were supplying the Roman Army with all the forts around the low part of the Tees Valley and across into Cumbria, the needs of the Roman Army in terms of meat and in terms of wool and in terms of leather, were immense.

"You’ve got the thousands and thousands of sheep that would have been needed and thousands of acres of land that would have been needed to produce crops and it is a time capsule that needs to be opened up and understood and that’s what we’re trying to do.

"It’s a very, very important excavation, not just for Teesdale, but for our understanding really of Roman and native interactions for the North East generally. It fills a gap in the North Pennines and it adds to the knowledge that we’ve got from the eastern part of the county."

Among the finds are an intricately patterned Iron Age bead, Roman pottery, and Roman paving stones.

Tony Metcalfe, chair of Altogether Archaeology, said his favourite artefact found is the spearhead, adding: "We’ve got a Roman spearhead and when we first found this, obviously it was covered in rust. We had it x-rayed and from that we worked out that it was a spearhead from the second century, because there’s one similar to this at South Shields and we had that carbon dated and that was 180AD... This would have been a Roman soldier’s, but it could also have been locals living here who were in the Roman Army."

Site organiser, Martin Green, explained how the finds give us a sense of what relations might have been like between the Iron Age farmers and the Romans, adding: "It’s obvious from our findings here that the settlement expanded, perhaps just before the Romans turned up. There was large paved areas made, probably inside buildings. We’ve got a hearth, we’ve got lots of quern stones they used for paving, after they’d finished use for grinding corn, and lots of finds that were from the Roman era, which showed that the inhabitants were still basically Iron Age natives, but they were now living a partly Roman life and trading with the Romans.

"I guess in the early part of the Roman era, the Roman Army would just come and kick your front door down and say they were taking whatever they wanted from your barn, but the Romans were here for over 300 years or so, so the suspicion is that this site would have been selling grain, possibly wool as well and leather to the Romans."

The dig, which will run again next year, relies on a number of volunteers sparing their time during the summer.

One volunteer said: "Iron Age pottery, it’s very, very fragile and you hold it in your hand, you look at it and you think wow, nobody’s seen this for such a long time, and you just have to treat it so delicately, because if you don’t, it just falls to pieces. It’s really good. It’s a wonderful experience."

Another said: "We’ve got our little dentist kit out, which our members kindly loaned us and we all carefully flicked the bits of clay off and we said, oh it’s just like being in Tutankhamun’s tomb this, except we haven’t got any gold and jewels and that sort of thing, but we still enjoy it, even if we’re just doing a piece of wood."