COTSWOLDS, ENGLAND—BBC News reports that a Roman settlement was discovered during a road construction project in southwestern England. The settlement was situated along the road that connected Roman Cirencester and Gloucester, said Alex Thompson of Oxford Cotswold Archaeology. “We think that our settlement was being used to help with people that were travelling along the road and probably something to do with horses,” he said. Travelers may have stopped at the site to exchange their tired horses for fresh ones, or to allow their horses to rest and be cared for. “We have a nice Roman building that may have been used as stabling or potentially as somewhere where you could stay the night and have your horse looked after,” Thompson explained. Artifacts found at the site include a small Roman figurine made of copper alloy. It depicts Cupid in the style of Hercules, and probably represents the power of love over even the strongest heroes, Thompson said. The excavation also uncovered a Roman fingernail cleaner with a disc-shaped bone bead at its neck, and copper alloy brooches that may have been worn by people who worked at the settlement. To read about Roman settlements uncovered as part of construction of Cambridgeshire's A14 roadway, go to "Letter from England: Building a Road Through History."
