This is a series, I on the world. I'm John Bachelor. To Matt Steinglass,

you're a correspondent for the economist to take us to an archaeological dig, rich in irony.

This is a dig in a town named Velsen, near the town of Velsen.

Archaeologists have discovered not only a Roman fort but a of the the Dutch Research Council announcing not only a fort but a very large deployment of

Roman soldiers in the first century AD.

What was the opinion of the discoveries at the site? What is the fresh

a version of this construction? Good evening to you Matt. Good evening John.

So this is an area, Felson, which is just next to the North Sea Canal between

Amsterdam and the North Sea. And it's been known for ages since the 40s and

certainly since the 50s that there was a significant Roman presence there because when they were digging some road works

underneath that canal they started turning up all kinds of old Roman soldier gear.

So they've been doing that mostly they've done two digs they've discovered a small fort which they call

Felton 1 which is a kostellum by Roman standards and might have has a few hundred troops and And they knew that that came from about AD 15

and lasted until 28 AD or so when they had a battle.

But this other one has been excavated more recently and they started

realizing over the last few years that it was much bigger than they had suspected.

And the theory is that it's linked to the Roman invasion of Britain, which took place in 43 AD.

Most significantly, they found a plank which they could date through tree rings to the winter of 42 AD. So it's clear that this castle was what they call it

Kastra, which is a big Roman encampment with thousands of soldiers, was enhanced or built at that point.

And we also know that at that point,

the Emperor Caligula was busy planning the invasion of Britain.

He started planning that invasion 39 Britain. He started planning that invasion in 39 AD and began enhancing the Roman

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