Ancient Roman settlement unearthed in west London

LONDON - A Roman settlement filled with ancient artefacts and human remains has been unearthed at a building site for a luxury hotel in west London.

Archaeologists, excavating a site in Syon Park ahead of the construction of a new hotel, discovered more than 11,000 Roman items just half a metre below the surface, reports the Daily Mail.

Human remains, 11,500 fragments of pottery, 100 coins and jewellery were uncovered by the experts from the Museum of London Archaeology, who are currently studying the artefacts from the find.

Some of the haul included part of a gold Bronze Age bracelet.

“This is a chunk of Roman life. It has given us a valuable, rare insight into the daily life of an agricultural village on the outskirts of Londinium [London] that would have supplied the Roman city and provided shelter for travellers passing through,” said Jo Lyon, a senior archaeologist at the museum.

The village might have been built to serve the Thames Crossing on the major Roman road to Silchester in northern Hampshire, which was lined with buildings and housed a field system where residents would have grown crops.

Though the excavation was carried out two years ago, the finds were revealed now only.

The unearthed skeletons found buried in one of the Roman field ditches had been laid in a crouched position, on their side. However, Lyon said this indicated unknown prehistoric rites than Roman practice.

Syon Park, near Brentford, is the site where the Waldorf Astoria hotel chain plans to open a new hotel later next month. (ANI)