n
Archaeologists have found the foundations for the first London public building.
By excavating under the basement of a commercial building in the city’s financial district, they met what they believe to be around 2,000 years of a basilica in Roman London.
The basilica was part of the London Roman Forum, or Public Place, and was “indeed the first town hall,” said Sophie Jackson, director of the Museum of London Archaeology.
Archaeologists found the leftovers for the first time in the summer and ended their investigation a few weeks ago, said Jackson. They started working after the granting of the building permit to demolish a commercial building on the site and replace it with an office tower for mixed 32 -story use.
They uncovered “Foundations and massive flint foundations and walls, Ragone and Roman tiles,” the museum said in a statement announcing the discovery on Thursday. In some regions, these remains measured more than 33 feet long, three feet wide and 13 feet deep, according to the press release.
Their size and scope indicate that the basilica, which was to be the largest structure in the city at the time, was three floors and built on a hill, said Ms. Jackson in a telephone interview on Thursday. She added that it was probably a place where administrative questions were resolved and that the money could have been stored.
Archaeologists also believe that the site that was searched was an area designated inside the basilica called a court, where the magistrates were seated on a raised platform and made judgments on judicial affairs and important decisions Regarding the government, said Jackson.
“It was a clear symbol of Roman power and authority,” said the museum.
Archaeologists had known the existence of the basilica, but they did not know how much he had survived the streets of London, and they did not expect such a high level of preservation.
The remains were found at the center of a lively metropolis, in a district of London which essentially has the same function now that thousands of years ago under Roman domination. The archeology of the London museum said that the basilica was “formerly the beating heart of Roman London”.
“Trying to understand that London Roman is a puzzle,” said Jackson, and “most of the pieces have been lost”.
The Romans conquered Great Britain in 43 AD and established London, then known as Londinium, about five years later. At that time, the city was an industrial port with a rapidly growing transport network. Thirteen years after the Londinium Foundation, the British tribes led a rebellion against the Romans and destroyed most of the city.
About 15 years later, at the end of the 1970s or 80s after JC, the Romans rebuilt the city, including the recently digested basilica. The Romans also built a bath house and an amphitheater in the same area at the same time.
Ron Hertshten, the director general of Hertshten Properties, the company that redevelopes the site, said that “the discovery of remains under our building led us to considerably revise our plans”. The company, he said, planned to integrate the remains into a public demonstration which would be open to the public.
Archaeologists hope that the revelation of the remains will lead to more discoveries in Roman London. Once the building is being demolished, they can do a complete excavation, said Jackson. “We will discover so much about the origin of London and the life of the first Londoners,” she said.
The remains of the basilica are hardly the first important archaeological discovery in London. In 2022, archaeologists unearthed two extremely well -preserved Roman mosaics. In 2017, when Bloomberg finished a large office building in the city of London, he incorporated the temple of Mithras, aged 2000, another relic of London days under the Roman domination which was discovered for the first time In the 1950s, in its design.
It was not even the first time that Roman ruins were found in the same street.
“A Roman mystery sent London citizens rushing to the scene of recent excavations”, ” The New York Times reported in February 1926When the remains of the forum were discovered during the construction of a Barclays Bank building on Gracechurch street, about 350 feet from the site of the recent discovery of the basilica.
“Only two or three rooms will be kept,” said Times. “The rest will be lost again, to offer no doubt to future generations who reveal the homes by it.”
n
n
