Introduction Time Capsule 1933 (1/10)
Introduction Time Capsule 1933
Roman Road.
Now a gravel road.
Different searchers prefer different sorts of landscapes. Some like beaches, some like arable fields, and I prefer woodland with some sort of relief. In my opinion hills, valleys and creeks help to make a landscape interesting and vivid in contrast to the flat, featureless arable fields. From a searcher’s perspective these details help to “read” to the land. They help to anticipate what sort of human activity took or not took place at which spot. The more rugged the landscape the fewer are the chances it was ever disturbed e.g. by a plough. This soil is old. In this account I would like to invite you to join me in a search trip to a very rugged landscape with some nice historical properties.
The place in question is located where a major Roman road crossed a major river. To guard the crossing the Romans erected a small fortress high above on an elevation. Fortress and crossing were used until the middle ages. Searching at this fortress was not allowed but I received permission to search the area below in the vicinity of the presumed crossing.
The picture shows the presumed Roman road how where it leaves the plateau and descends into the river valley. Today it is a gravel road. I say “presumed” since there are still a few doubts. According to official archaeology this is the Roman road and indeed there are reasons to support this theory.
Still, I am not convinced. The river below is notorious for its floods and was so, even worse, in antiquity. The “official” route leads down to the river into the area endangered by floods and follows the river for some times before crossing it. I think the Roman engineers had chosen another route. A route to keep the portion of the road in the endangered low regions to an absolute minimum. After having studied the topography I have found that alternative route. But so far this theory is not backed up by any finds.