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Ladies and gentlemen, today I am standing up for Claudia Severa.

Claudia Severa is a woman about whom we know very little.

I know that's not unusual in this show.

It's like, I'm going to do a woman again, Natalie, yeah. Do we know anything? No. But we're going to do her because she is responsible for

one of the most extraordinary archaeological finds in the history of Britain. And I know that sounds

like a really big claim for someone you may well not have heard of, but I'm going to stand by it

and I'm going to prove it, I promise. But first, I think I need to give you some context, or nothing that follows will

seem wondrous, I say, inexplicably quoting from the Muppet Christmas Carol.

So, in 1973, archaeologists were digging at a Roman fort called Vindalander.

It's not too far from Hexham in the northeast of England.

And it's a fort which was built about 40 years before Hadrian's Wall is begun.

Hadrian's wall has begun around 122 CE.

And the domestic and military finds, which we have from Vindalanda, are completely brilliant.

They include hobnail boots with the actual nails, boxing gloves, not designed to properly

kill in the gladiatorial combat, but for practice, for fighting and sparring.

Roof tiles, not just roof tiles, roof tiles with dog, poor prints in them.

I know.

When I was researching this show, I found a whole paper on the gate analysis of

por prints on Roman rooftiles.

How are we not doing that program?

But the most amazing find at Vindalanda are the Vindalanda tablets, wooden with writing

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