New discovery of 2000-year-old Roman fort could prove an ancient Welsh myth
The Roman emperor on this coin has long been thought to have had a camp in Wales - and it's believed that new findings prove this to be true
- Published
Have you ever heard of Magnus Maximus?
He was a Roman emperor who ruled Britain in the fourth century, who is mentioned in lots of famous Welsh folklore.
There are many stories about Magnus, including one that he had a camp near the Frenni Fawr hill in Wales.
Well, archaeologists think they've found the ancient 2000-year-old camp that Magnus stayed in, proving that some myths can turn out to be true.
Dr Mark Merrony led the dig and he spoke to Newsround to tell us all about this amazing discovery.
More fantastic finds
Meet the prehistoric otter-like animal that swam alongside dinosaurs
- Published4 days ago
Bronze Age hoards, Viking swords and more amazing UK treasure finds
- Published7 October
New extinct fossilised crocodilian found in ancient Egyptian rocks
- Published7 October
An artist's illustration of how the wooden fort would have looked
In one of the stories from a famous set of Welsh tales called the Mabinogion, Magnus Maximus sets up camp near the Frenni Fawr hill in Wales.
Dr Mark, who is an expert on all things Roman at the University of Oxford, thinks he's found that very camp.
Even though the fort was built hundreds of years before Magnus Maximus used it, Dr Mark thinks it would have been a very appealing option to the emperor and his crew.
"The Roman army were very regimented and always dug a trench around their camp in the shape of a playing card.
"If you're spending a couple of nights somewhere, it takes an awful lot of effort and labour.
"But if there's a fort a couple of miles away that's clearly visible from the peak of the mountain - which it is and would have been - [Magnus Maximus] would have not only been able to see it but would have known about it [too]."
Dr Mark says that the team dug five trenches where they thought they would find the most important objects
Two years ago, Dr Mark discovered what he thought was a Roman road in west Wales, which led him down this journey of discovery.
After doing some work with geophysics - what Dr Mark says are "like x-rays under the ground" - he pinned down an area in the site where he thought buildings might have existed.
"In September, we decided to do some more archaeological excavations" - digging for hidden ancient objects - "where we thought the most important buildings and features were, and we found what we were looking for."
They found pottery and really big Roman ceramic tiles, evidence of a camp that would have been built using wood between 74 and 78 AD - around 2,000 years ago.
Dr Mark says that "it was a timber fort, but the most important buildings had stone flooring.
"It even had an aqueduct feeding it - every fort had a water supply."
