Two Ancient Wells Discovered in England Suggest Even the Romans Used Trial and Error

The Romans were exceptional at many things, achieving incredible feats in engineering and erecting structures that still stand today. But even the Romans made mistakes—and they had to deal with some trial and error. A recent discovery of two ancient wells in England is a testament to that fact, as the Museum of London Archaeology (MOLA) announced in a statement on Monday.

It appears that the first well collapsed during its construction, while the second one was built to correct the error, per the museum.

“We’ve all done a bit of DIY that hasn’t quite gone to plan,” MOLA project manager Simon Markus admits in the statement, “but this was a failure of Roman engineering on an industrial scale. A lot of effort would have gone into digging this well, which they then had to completely abandon.”

In the words of the London Times’ Jack Blackburn, “They came. They saw. They blundered.”

Archaeologists found the structures, along with “amazingly preserved wooden elements,” while excavating a settlement in Cambridgeshire, England, that began around 350 B.C.E., per the statement. They dated the wells to the Roman period (43 to 410 C.E.), at which point the settlement would have been “a hive of industrial activity.” The excavation also revealed a large, gated area that included evidence of carpentry, woodworking and metalworking from roughly the same time period.

The team uncovered the first well outside the gated area. It was around 28 feet deep, and the remains of a 2,000-year-old ladder found inside—kept intact by the waterlogged conditions—suggest the well caved in before the Romans could start using it. It seems that the clay used to line the walls of the well didn’t stick to the compacted earth and stone of its surroundings.

“There would definitely be a significant amount of frustration in losing that amount of work. The fact that the ladder was in the well indicates that they were still working on the well at the time the collapse happened,” Markus tells the Observer’s Dalya Alberge. “They were about 8.5 meters down, so they were getting close to finishing the excavation.”

Before starting work on the second well, the Roman builders appear to have assessed what went wrong, then changed their strategy. When the locals tried again, they dug inside the gated enclosure. The second well went only around 21 feet deep, and rather than clay, it was lined with wooden boards that held up the structure. Archaeologists found a layer of stones at the base of the well, used to filter the water.

The well also contained wooden scraps—including some simple decorative carvings—that were likely dumped down there after the well had gone out of use. These wooden elements suggest an industrial amount of woodworking was going on, not just small home projects. This would be consistent with another discovery made at the same site: what was likely a Roman road, which could have connected the local woodworkers to a larger trading system.

The excavation, which is now concluded, was conducted ahead of a development plan to improve the A428 highway in England. Gareth Moore, program manager of the road project, tells BBC News’ Helen Burchell that the archaeological research has been a “fascinating and integral part” of the process.

“Without this major road scheme,” he adds, “these invaluable discoveries about Roman engineering and daily life might have remained hidden forever.”

Now, experts plan to continue studying the wooden contents of the wells to understand what the settlement’s carpenters were building.

Margherita Bassi | READ MORE

Margherita Bassi is a trilingual storyteller and freelance journalist with a particular interest in ancient history, astronomy and human interest stories.