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Couldn't see if this had been posted so I thought I would.
They've reconstructed a Roman Villa in Wroxter, UK. They took 6 modern builders and had them use only ancient materials and tools. It's interesting........from what I've seen of the mosaic though I will be spitting blood :evil: (they have 6, yes 6 men building the villa)
http://www.channel4.com/programmes/rome-...od#3154408
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Yeah, saw some of the first part of the show the other night. Was interesting, but also humorous....and also a bit frustrating. i thought they would use actual reconstructions of ancient tools and methods....:roll:
Visne partem mei capere? Comminus agamus! * Me semper rogo, Quid faceret Iulius Caesar? * Confidence is a good thing! Overconfidence is too much of a good thing.
[b]Legio XIIII GMV. (Q. Magivs)RMRS Remember Atuatuca! Vengence will be ours!
Titus Flavius Germanus
Batavian Coh I
Byron Angel
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mmm, got a 'this service isn't available in your area' error when trying to view that episode. Would be quite interesting to see what they show.
But indeed it's a bummer these shows most of the time choose for people who have a good name (e.g. many (popular)writings published), instead of better experts on the subject. Hope it will be worth something though, as this kind of shows can start getting people interested in the past 
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I do think that the whole thing will collapse for it has been built with no foundation at all, in fact I've not seen such a load of rubbish where the Archaeologist in charge got all up tight about Wheel barrows. The comment he made was that he did not want to have it said that he had not done this building correct, but it is already foolish to try to build it without a foundation.
The reason for the concrete base is that it has to stand on this because the forum is below where it has been put, hence no foundation in the true Roman method.
Then when it came to making the stone bricks they were working all six sides of these which the Romans did not do, there was only need to work five sides for the inside face is never seen as with most Roman walls including that of Hadrian'sWall.
Then the cart the woodwork guy made was just some thing else, as was his log splitting method that was also crazy.
This building is going to be a visitor centre however when health and safety see it I'm sure they will not let anyone inside of it.
Brian Stobbs
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I have to say it had great entertainment value but little else so far.
Like Byron I also found it very frustrating. :|
One of the builder's said "I assumed you were walking around with gladiators and stuff like that, and it's opened me eyes to what they can do, what they knew about at that point in history. Cos it's 1000s and 1000s of years ago, do you know what I mean, it's unbelievible!"
And listening to an apparent academic arguing the lack of wheelbarrows in the Roman period by only aggresively shouting "I've read books Jim, I've read books!!" is beyond a joke... :roll:
Still I shall persevere and maybe watch the next few episodes.
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The Roman knew about wheelbarrows but for some reason didn't seem to have used them much since depictions in art and remains are rare within the Roman period. Wheelbarrows are a labor saving device and the Romans seem to have had lots of labor available compared with later periods when wheelbarrows become much more common.
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The most entertaining parts so far have been the witty slogans on the T shirts of one of the builders!
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Quote:
Still I shall persevere and maybe watch the next few episodes.
Well, it passes time....:mrgreen:
Visne partem mei capere? Comminus agamus! * Me semper rogo, Quid faceret Iulius Caesar? * Confidence is a good thing! Overconfidence is too much of a good thing.
[b]Legio XIIII GMV. (Q. Magivs)RMRS Remember Atuatuca! Vengence will be ours!
Titus Flavius Germanus
Batavian Coh I
Byron Angel
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I would like to think that by the next episode they do find some more willing helpers, as they were trying to do for it is so crazy to consider that six people could build this villa in six months.
The foolish thing was that these guys were cutting their own stone at the quarry, then having also to work this stone into bricks and then build the wall as well.
The Romans would have had hundreds of bodies cutting and transporting the materials to a hand full of experienced masons doing the skilled work, and also they would have had many people making planks from logs to pass on to good wood workers.
I do also think that this very well read Archaeologist needs to do a re-think and realy get his act together.
Brian Stobbs
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Brian said...
"I do think that the whole thing will collapse for it has been built with no foundation at all"
My house is built in the same way. It's on a concrete 'raft' due to the fact that my road follows an old dry riverbed. It's been standing 25 years now with no issues! (Thankfully)
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This may well be true Adrian however your house I'm sure was not built by a trial and error method and experiment as the particular one we are looking at here.
Brian Stobbs
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Our archeologist sent me a link to a virtual tour site (which I misplaced!) and wandering around the finished villa it is evident that this is not a very good reconstruction at all. It is lacking of a staircase to the second floor, there are only a very limited number of small rooms and the "bathhouse" is really scruffy. I really do wonder is this is acually based on any house found there, it certainly isn't a villa of sorts but a very modest dwelling.
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I think that one of the problems is that none of these workers were given any good instruction on Roman building techniques before they were let loose on the job.
Brian Stobbs
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I agree with some of the comments here. The only bad feeling I get from the programme is the waste of resources. I can only assume the selling of the tv rights and the wider light educational benefits possibly overrode the importance of historical accuracy? Eitherway, it is simply good light entertainment and I think we're all getting a tad guilty of the 'Gladiator' effect here. Surely we can all remember how critical we were of the Ridiculous Scott epic at the time? Bl**dy good period swashbuckler though accuracy aside! Why can't we just take the series for what it is? Crikey, if we were as half as picky about some of the 'Hollywoodized' reconstructions on RAT we'd all be at each others throats! :o
Scott Goring
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We've been enjoying it as an entertainment show, as it's obviously never meant to be anything else or it would have been on the BBC rather than C4.
I was hoping for something as a follow-up, like having the place be approved for weddings so there could be a 'Big Fat Roman Wedding'.
The mosaic may end up dire but I would hazard a guess that much like modern homes, that there were a number of places which had less than stellar mosaics or other work in them. I'm looking forward to a visit to the venue when it opens in a few weeks.
If nothing else, the show has accomplished its goal, people are talking about it and that's never a bad thing.
-Su
Mike and Su Poole
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