Roman Fort

As you can see, Newcastle can be a forbidding place -- 75 mph winds, earthquakes every 30 years or so, people who are shocked to see the sun shining (they complain here because sun is so infrequent that no one owns sunglasses). So you can just imagine the dismay with which the ancient Romans received the news they'd be stationed in Brittania. Here in Newcastle, we are situated right at the edge of the ancient Roman Empire. Emporer Hadrian actually built a wall in 200 something A.D. to make the empire border more defensible against the native folks who inhabited what is now Scotland. So I am currently living in what used to be just barely the Roman Empire. Cool, huh?
This is the reconstructed entry of the fortified Roman supply post called Arbeia. The whole reconstructed archaeological site reminded me of working back at Sunwatch Indian Village in Dayton. Like back home, the archaeological stuff isn't much to look at for the casual visitor -- the stones here were recycled for local buildings LONG ago. However, the reconstructions provided a nice peek into what it would have been like to be a soldier stationed here at the northern border of the Roman Empire. The reconstructed buildings weren't heated, so we were glad there was some sun to help melt the frost.

Back in the day, the fort would have looked something like the model to the right. Boring warehouse district, right? Wrong-o! These warehouses had central heating! I'm guessing it would probably be easier than we think to have a pretty decent time in Roman days. They heated floors by having space beneath the floors that was heated by fires in little ovens.

Out behind the barracks (those were also reconstructed), we even saw the latrines, which used water draining from the buildings channeled through various gutters to wash away the waste! I think it would have been a mighty cold seat, but it might smell a bit better than a port-o-john in mid-summer. Most of the actual seats to the left are gone, but you can see the stall walls and the floor covering the flushing system.

The commanding officer's house was pretty darned spiffy. I think Dan would have liked it because it had columns. They also have a decorator who obviously needs to start his own DIY show. Perhaps "Flip this Fort" didn't have the same kind of appeal as some of the shows currently on the HG channel, though.

So the reason we got to explore this lovely bit of history was it was exam day. Apparently, it is too distracting for a medical student to have a wife in the house while studying, so we did our duty and had a day out. Maria, Erica, little Kylan and I were exploring the area around the fort, close to the mouth of the River Tyne on the North Sea. Here's a brief clip of Erica and Kylan getting their picture taken by Maria as we take the ferry across the Tyne River (how did the camera get set to movie instead of picture, we'll never know). We stayed out of the house until the guys were in taking the test and we ran out of diaper-changing supplies. Nice timing!