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Roman Bath
Roman Bath: A New History and Archaeology of Aquae Sulis | Peter Davenport
2 posts | 1 read | 1 to read
For almost three hundred years, excavations have been carried out in Roman Bath. At first these were rare and sporadic and archaeological finds were made by chance. Even fewer were reported. But from the 1860s, deliberate investigations were made and increasingly professional methods employed. The Roman Baths were laid open to view, but little was published. From the 1950s, interest accelerated, professionals and amateurs collaborated, and there was never a decade in which some new discovery was not made. The first popular but authoritative presentation of this work was made in 1971 and updated several times. However, from the 1990s to the present there has been some sort of archaeological investigation almost every year. This has thrown much new and unexpected light on the town of Aquae Sulis and its citizens. In this book, Peter Davenport, having been involved in most of the archaeological work in Bath since 1980, attempts to tell the story of Roman Bath: the latest interim report on the Three Hundred Year Dig.
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review
shanaqui
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Just finished it up this morning -- juuust before my library suspended my account because I haven't borrowed any physical books in 3 years. (Ebooks aplenty, but apparently that doesn't count. 😑)

It's quite in-depth about archaeological findings, but there's enough interpretation as well to keep it interesting. I found it surprisingly breezy -- Davenport is good at being clear and descriptive while not being stodgy.

DivineDiana I have never heard of a library suspending a card for that! Seems counter productive. 😕 2y
shanaqui @DivineDiana My bet is that they forgot to/couldn't get the ebook lending app to feed into their checks on whether a patron is active. In this library, they suspend your card if you haven't borrowed books in a year (though this was suspended during the height of the pandemic) because they want to see you in person and confirm your details are correct. It's a pain. 2y
DivineDiana That it is. ☹️ 2y
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WorldsOkayestStepMom My library also suspends accounts for "inactivity" even though I use Libby all the time. It's annoying. 2y
shanaqui @WorldsOkayestStepMom I'm kinda glad it's not just me at least. 😆 I wonder if Libby sends them data about activity at all, but it seems so weird if not, that kind of info is so crucial. 2y
WorldsOkayestStepMom @shanaqui I'm not sure, but you'd think they'd share the info! 2y
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blurb
shanaqui

So far, this is a pretty smooth read, and doesn't get too bogged down in imagination or stodgy detail. I loved the fact that painters who went to Bath to take the waters after becoming paralysed would actually have seen benefit -- because their work involved lead in the paints, and while they were away from work and not ingesting the paint, the mineral-rich waters of the springs could help leach the lead from their body, improving the symptoms.