Visited the Roman fort at Vindolanda and noticed something weird about the floor tiles

Honestly, I was just walking through the commander's house ruins last month and my foot scuffed a tile near the doorway. It made a hollow sound, so I pointed it out to one of the site staff. They got excited and said that exact spot is where they found a bunch of writing tablets a few years back, preserved in the wet ground underneath. Tbh, it made me realize how much stuff might still be right under our feet in places we think are fully dug. Has anyone else had a moment like that at a dig site, where a simple sound or look tipped you off?

2 comments

2 Comments

tarak7922d ago

Wait, you think most sites have that much left? I've worked on a few digs and honestly, the good spots are usually picked clean by pros way before we get there. That hollow tile thing is a crazy lucky find, but it's like winning the lottery. Most of the time, you're just moving dirt that's already been turned over a bunch.

rosed3222d ago

Yeah, it's not just about what's left in the ground, it's about what we can even notice. Most of us aren't trained to spot the small stuff. Like, I read about a dig where they kept finding these tiny, smooth stones. Tourists would walk right over them. Turns out they were gaming pieces from a Roman board game, just scattered and ignored because they looked like plain pebbles. Makes you wonder how much we miss because we don't know what to look for, or we're focused on the big, obvious ruins. That hollow tile sound is a dead giveaway, but most clues are way more quiet.