1. Where is Caistor Roman Town? Norwich Caistor Roman Town: Venta Icenorum

2. Caistor St Edmunds The village now Venta Icenorum

3. How have archaeologists explored Venta Icenorum?

4. Aerial photos taken in 1929 led to a lot of publicity. As a result major archaeological excavations took place in the 1930s

5. The South Gate exposed by Donald Atkinson's excavations in the 1930s

6. The 1930 and 1950s excavations were targeted on known Roman walls and buildings

7. When the excavation ended everything was re-buried

8. Can you think of ways archaeologists could find out about what’s underground without digging?

9. Aerial photographs are still very useful

10. (copyright: English Heritage & Norfolk County Council) National Mapping Programme: this show all the features visible on aerial photographs. Archaeology in 21 st century Red - earthworks or cropmarks relating to either banks or compacted surfaces (roads, floors etc.). Green - remains of ditches and pits showing as either earthworks or cropmarks.

11. Geophysical magnetometer survey Every kind of material has magnetic properties. Changes in the soil, such as digging a ditch, causes disturbances in the Earth’s magnetic field. These can be detected by the magnetometer Archaeology in 21 st century

12. LiDAR: This technique uses light sensors to measure the distance between the sensor and the target object. Archaeology in 21 st century

13. Excavation can be started once non-invasive surveys are complete. Locations for trenches are chosen carefully as a result of the surveys Archaeology in 21 st century Excavation at Caistor Roman Town led by Dr Will Bowden (University of Nottingham)

14. What did the archaeologists find at Caistor?

15. The surface of a Roman street showing layers of gravel used to repair the road over time

16. Cobbled surfaces from late 2 nd to early 3 rd century AD

17. Burnt building beneath north wing of forum

18. Excavating burnt deposits in south wing of Forum Can you see the walls in the ditch that are marked on the drawing?

19. Finds: 4 th -century burials from south field

20. Finds: Palaeolithic hand-axe We didn’t just find Roman objects. There have been many prehistoric finds from the area, and finds from after the Roman period.

21. Finds: Pottery and animal bone

22. Finds: Ceramic building material (CBM): building materials made from baked clay, such as roof tiles