BIRDOSWALD FORT Traditional Cache
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Difficulty:
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Terrain:
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Size: 
(micro)
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Close to Birdoswald, parking nearby 
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CHANGED TO A MICRO - 05.10.06 Further to the west, Birdoswald is another Wall fort, which tends to be less crowded than the more famous sites at Chesters and Housesteads. It is proving to be a very rich site archaeologically, and is throwing new light on what happened in the later years of Roman occupation, nearly three hundred years after Hadrian ordered the Wall to be built. The reason for this is that earlier excavations at places like Housesteads focused on the early years of the Wall, meaning that the archaeologists dug straight through the later layers, destroying them forever. Birdoswald remained a working farm until recently, and so those later levels have been preserved intact. In the later years of the Wall's history many of the soldiers inter-married with local women, and their sons followed them into the army. Britain had become their home, and the garrison here had been significantly reduced. The archaeological evidence had shown how the fort here began to fall into disrepair. The granary, for instance, had become derelict by around the year 350, and a large timber building was put up inside the foundations. Presumably a large timber hall, it had a big hearth at one end, around which various high-status goods have been found which would have been dropped by the inhabitants. Evidence like this has been taken to suggest that some kind of sub-Roman chieftain society had been established in the area, with the soldiers staying on after the Romans abandoned Britain. Birdoswald, once known as Banna, has been for many years one of the sites associated with Arthur's last battle at Camlann. It has also been suggested as the original Camelot. The presence, 20 miles further along the Wall, of a fort (no longer standing)called Avalanna, has caused speculation that this may have been the ancient and musterious Avalon where King Arthur was taken to be healed of his fatal Battle wounds?
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Svaq 1998 - naq purpx gur onfr. 1998 tbar - onfr bs gerr.
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