Level 1 — Absolute Beginner
Archaeologists found an old Roman bath house in England. It is at a place called Fetcham Springs.
The bath house has different rooms. There is a cold room, a warm room, and a hot room.
Workers dug for three weeks. They found old coins, a pin, and pieces of painted wall.
The Romans used this bath house a very long time ago. People used it for about 200 years.
- archaeologist
- A scientist who studies old objects and places from the past
- Roman
- Related to ancient Rome and its empire
- bath house
- A building where people go to wash and relax
- dig
- To carefully remove earth to find old objects
- coin
- A small round piece of metal used as money
- wall
- The side of a building
- furnace
- A place where fire is used to make heat
- century
- A period of one hundred years
Level 2 — Elementary
Archaeologists and volunteers have confirmed a complete Roman bath house at Fetcham Springs near Leatherhead, England, after three weeks of careful excavation.
The team, from the Surrey County Archaeological Unit, identified a cold room, a warm room, a hot room, a furnace area, and a plunge pool, all part of the same bathing complex.
Among the finds were flue tiles, which show that some rooms were heated, along with pieces of decorated painted plaster, Roman coins, a bronze brooch, and a fitting from a horse's harness.
Pottery found at the site suggests people used the bath house from the middle of the 2nd century AD until the late 4th century AD, a span of roughly two hundred years.
- excavation
- The careful digging up of an archaeological site
- volunteer
- A person who works without being paid
- complex (noun)
- A group of connected buildings or rooms
- flue tile
- A tile used to carry hot air or smoke through a wall
- decorated
- Made more attractive with patterns or designs
- plaster
- A smooth material spread on walls to cover them
- brooch
- A piece of jewelry pinned to clothing
- harness
- Straps used to control or guide an animal
Level 3 — Intermediate
Following three weeks of systematic excavation, archaeologists and community volunteers working with the Surrey County Archaeological Unit have confirmed the presence of a complete Roman bath house at Fetcham Springs, near Leatherhead in southern England.
The excavation revealed a full sequence of bathing rooms characteristic of Roman thermae: a cold room (frigidarium), a warm room (tepidarium), a hot room (caldarium), an associated furnace, and a plunge pool, with flint foundations marking the building's outline and flue tiles confirming that several rooms were deliberately heated.
Small finds recovered from the site paint a picture of a well-appointed provincial bathing complex, including fragments of decorated painted plaster, Roman coins, a bronze brooch, and a fitting from a horse's harness, artifacts that hint at the wealth and daily life of those who used the facility.
Pottery evidence indicates the bath house was in use from the middle of the 2nd century AD through to the late 4th century AD, a span of roughly two centuries that places it firmly within the height and eventual decline of Roman Britain, and archaeologists have described it as one of the most significant Roman discoveries in the region in recent years.
- systematic
- Done according to a careful, organized plan
- thermae
- The Latin term for a Roman public bathing complex
- frigidarium
- The cold room of a Roman bath house
- tepidarium
- The warm room of a Roman bath house
- caldarium
- The hot room of a Roman bath house
- well-appointed
- Furnished or equipped to a high standard
- provincial
- Relating to a region outside the capital of an empire
- decline
- A gradual weakening or reduction over time
Level 4 — Advanced
After three weeks of systematic excavation, archaeologists and community volunteers affiliated with the Surrey County Archaeological Unit have confirmed a fully articulated Roman bath house at Fetcham Springs, near Leatherhead in southern England, an addition to the region's archaeological record notable both for its completeness and its state of preservation.
The exposed structure conforms closely to the canonical sequence of Roman thermae, comprising a frigidarium, tepidarium, and caldarium alongside an associated furnace and plunge pool, its footprint traced by flint foundations while surviving flue tiles attest to a deliberately engineered heating system channeling hot air beneath the floors and through the walls.
The assemblage of small finds, decorated painted plaster fragments, Roman coinage, a bronze brooch, and a fitting from a horse harness, gestures toward a well-appointed provincial establishment rather than a purely utilitarian facility, offering a granular window into the material culture of those who patronized it.
Ceramic evidence brackets the site's occupation from the mid-2nd century AD to the late 4th century AD, a chronology spanning roughly two centuries that situates the bath house squarely within the apogee and subsequent contraction of Roman Britain, prompting archaeologists to characterize it as among the most significant Roman discoveries the county has yielded in recent memory.
- articulated
- Clearly and distinctly expressed or defined in structure
- canonical
- Following an accepted, standard pattern
- footprint
- The ground area covered by a structure
- assemblage
- A collection of objects found together at a site
- utilitarian
- Designed for practical use rather than beauty
- granular
- Detailed, showing fine-grained information
- bracket (verb)
- To enclose within a defined range or time period
- apogee
- The highest or most successful point of something
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