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'Hedges and Roman paths'

A didactic experiment Immediately west of the east gate, the Roman houses, porticos and streets in the centre of the town have been marked out by hedges, poles and gravelled paths. However, the public did not associate the installation with Roman buildings and therefore the experiment was deemed to have failed

- East gate - Public excavation
Today:		In Roman times:
'Modern art or a planned building project?' Neither! A Roman town quarter is being visualised here! Aerial photographs have revealed the exact locations of the Roman walls and ancient streets below ground. Deep-rooted grain takes longer to ripen than grain growing directly above walls, pathways and streets. As the faster ripening grain turns yellow, the Roman features become visible in the aerial photographs as light-coloured traces. Walls are recognisable as thin light-coloured lines, while ancient roads appear as wide light-coloured strips. Based on these traces, hedges and poles have been installed in the terrain to mark out the precise alignment of the Roman walls. The widest road leads from the town centre towards the east gate and was once an important link road to Vindonissa (Windisch, Canton Argovia, 37 km). (We are grateful for the financial and active support afforded to the project by the Rotary Club, Section "Augst-Raurica") When the first round of marking was carried out a few years ago, we were curious as to the public's reaction to the tracing out of the ancient building structures in the terrain. Would they be well received by the visitors and would people understand what was being visualised? Unfortunately, this was not the case. In the coming years, the Roman east gate road will be visualised in a different manner and will once again be accessible as a public pathway.
In the southern area of the town, the ancient buildings can be seen in aerial photographs and by means of geophysical surveys: no extensive open-area excavations have been carried out here. The walls discovered by surveying are reproduced on this plan by fine lines. The bold lines signify walls that were revealed and documented in excavations.
Young people, adults and entire families can also avail of the opportunity of working on one of our public excavations. Schools may also register to take part in didactic excavations in the form of one-day courses. Image right: East gate (left), light-coloured gravel of the east gate road (centre), hedge marking a Roman building (above), and the Portakabins and tent of the public excavation (below)
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