Duroliponte

Duroliponte is the ancient name of a small Roman town on the site of present-day Cambridge, England. The ancient name of the place is so far delivered only in the Itinerarium Antonini Augusti Provinciarum. The location was at the intersection of several important roads.

The story of Duroliponte is primarily known excavations in the area of the present town. There was already an Iron Age settlement. Shortly after the conquest of Britain by the Romans some minor fortifications were built here, which should probably protect the local roads and the river crossing. To 70 AD, a fort was built. This has only been poorly studied and the function as a military camp thus remains uncertain. Already at the beginning of the 2nd century the fort was demolished. Little is known of the settlement of the second and third centuries, but most of the houses seem to have been rather simple timber-framed buildings with one room only. It was, after all, a stone building, which even had a hypocaust. This perhaps is a mansio ( rest house, hostel). Remains of wall paintings in various buildings occupy a modest living luxury. Pits in which were found skeletons of horses, dogs, but also children and luxury objects are interpreted as sacrificial pits of a sanctuary, in which perhaps a Celtic deity was worshiped and gave the place of regional importance.

In the middle of the fourth century was an approximately 8.6 -acre area of ​​the city with a wall, in the previous three gates were shown surrounded. On this now concentrated the place, which was probably abandoned in the 5th century.