Archaeologists in Wales Discover What Could Be a New Pompeii

The outline of the largest Roman villa ever built in Wales has been discovered three feet underground, with experts behind the discovery saying it could be equivalent to Pompeii.

Project leader Alex Langlands, co-director of Swansea University’s Center for Heritage Research and Training, told the media: “My eyes almost popped out of my skull.” British Broadcasting Corporation The moment ground-penetrating radar reveals a “huge structure” beneath a historic deer park. It is over 6,000 square feet. The remains of the villa may be particularly well preserved because they lie beneath a historical site that has not yet been built.

Langlands may have been “joking” in citing Pompeii, a rich archaeological site in Italy that was buried in ash from the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD 79, but he told British Broadcasting Corporation The analogy is “partly justified because of the level of preservation here.” The 850-acre site in Margam Country Park includes a 12th-century Cistercian monastery, a 19th-century castle and an 18th-century orangery.

“This is a stunning discovery,” Langlands said in a press release. “We always thought we would find something dating back to the Romano-British period, but we never dreamed it would be so clearly articulated and have so much potential in what it could tell us about South Wales’ elusive first millennium AD.”

The building, which Langlands described as “truly impressive and prestigious”, consisted of a gallery villa with two wings and a balcony, about 140 feet long, with up to six rooms in the front and eight in the rear. “An important local dignitary would almost certainly have felt at home here,” he said, describing it as “the center of a large agricultural estate”.

“We have well-preserved archaeological evidence so it’s possible to tell a lot about life in the first, second, third, fourth and even fifth centuries, which is a very exciting prospect,” Langlands said, adding that the site could provide “unparalleled information about the national story of Wales”.

“This part of Wales is not some kind of frontier, or the edge of an empire,” Langlands continued. “Indeed, the architecture here is as sophisticated and high-status as anything found in the agricultural heartland of southern England.” He said the discovery could “rewrite our view of South Wales during the Romano-British period”.

Most Roman villas found in Wales were military camps and fortresses. Impressive homes like this don’t come often, points out British Broadcasting Corporation.

The research team included experts from Swansea University’s Heritage Research and Training Center as well as Neath Port Talbot Council and Margam Abbey Church.

The exact location of the villa is being kept secret to avoid becoming a target for looters. More information will be shared at Margam Abbey on 17 January.