Editing Fishbourne Roman Palace (section)

== Discovery and excavation ==

The site was accidentally discovered in 1805, during the construction of a new home on the grounds of the ancient Roman ruin.<ref name=":22">{{Cite book |title=Archaeology of the Roman Empire: A tribute to the life and works of Professor Barri Jones |date=2001 |publisher=University of Michigan Press |isbn=978-1-84171-232-1 |editor-last=Higham |editor-first=N.J. |location=Ann Arbor, Michigan |doi=10.30861/9781841712321 }}</ref>&nbsp; Workers discovered {{convert|13|ft|m|adj=mid|-wide}} pavement as well as fragments of columns. In the following years, additional remains such as pottery fragments and portions of mosaic tiles were unearthed by local inhabitants who lived within close proximity to the site. However, the locals were unable to conceive the fact that the findings were part of a larger unknown structure that remained below the surface.<ref name=":32">{{Cite book |last=Guy |first=De la Bédoyère |url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/1114969255 |title=Roman Britain: a New History |date=2014 |publisher=Thames & Hudson |isbn=978-0-500-77183-9 |oclc=1114969255}}</ref> It wasn't until 1960, that Aubrey Barrett, an engineer working for the Portsmouth Water Company, discovered the foundations of a “masonry building” located north of the main road while digging a trench for a water main.<ref name=":03">{{Cite book |last=Cunliffe |first=Barry |author-link=Barry Cunliffe |title=Fishbourne; a Roman Palace and Its Garden |publisher=Johns Hopkins Press |year=1971 }}</ref>

[[File:Fishbourne model.JPG|300px|thumb|Museum model (made in 1968) of how Fishbourne Roman Palace may have appeared]]
This rediscovery of the ancient structure caught the attention of the [[Sussex Archaeological Society|Sussex Archeological Society]] and triggered the first series of excavations, directed by the archeologist [[Barry Cunliffe]] and his team in 1961.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Sussex Past {{!}} The Sussex Archaeological Society |url=https://sussexpast.co.uk/ |access-date=2021-04-11 }}</ref> Cunliffe's findings from his digs provide the most significant portion of the information associated with the site.<ref name=":03"/>&nbsp; In the years following the initial excavations led by Cunliffe, a series of further excavations were conducted, each of which focused on unearthing various other areas of the ancient site.<ref name=":03"/>

To the surprise of archeologists and historians alike, each stage of excavations revealed previously unknown details surrounding the site's vast and complex history.<ref name=":03"/> For instance, from 1995 to 1999, the archeologists [[John Manley (archaeologist)|John Manley]] and David Rudkin conducted digs that focused on southern portions of the site, which exposed significant evidence of human activity prior to the Roman conquest in 43&nbsp;AD.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last=Manley |first=John |title=A Pre-A.D. 43 Ditch at Fishbourne Roman Palace, Chichester |publisher=Britannia, vol. 36 |year=2005 |pages=55–99}}</ref> &nbsp;Over the course of five years, Manley's team of archeologists discovered nearly twelve thousand artifacts, including flint tools that are believed to date back to the [[Mesolithic|Mesolithic period]] (around 5000–4000&nbsp;BC) and could indicate the presence of a hunter and gatherer settlement near the present-day location of the Fishbourne palace.<ref name=":1" /> However, the most intriguing and significant evidence of [[British Iron Age|pre-Roman]] human activity at the site comes from a ditch containing nearly seven hundred fragments of pottery and a cup that can be traced back to a period within the [[Late Iron Age]].<ref name=":1" /> The findings made by Manley and his team challenge Cunliffe's earlier assumptions by suggesting the likely presence of significant human activity at Fishbourne prior to 43&nbsp;AD.

The site of the excavated [[Roman villa]] &nbsp;was so large that it became known as Fishbourne Roman Palace. In size, it is approximately equivalent to [[Nero]]'s [[Domus Aurea|Golden House]] in [[Rome]] or to the [[Villa Romana del Casale]] near to [[Piazza Armerina]] in [[Sicily]], and in plan it closely mirrors the basic organization of the emperor [[Domitian]]'s palace, the [[Domus Flavia]], completed in 92&nbsp;AD upon the [[Palatine Hill]] in Rome. Fishbourne is by far the largest Roman residence known north of the [[Alps]]. At about {{convert|500,000|sqft|m2}}, it has a larger footprint than [[Buckingham Palace]].