We Fired Up A Roman Hypocaust - For 8 Days Straight!

Nearly 2,000 years after it was first built, we're discovering just how ingenious Roman central heating really was. For eight days, a team of volunteers heated our reconstructed Roman hypocaust continuously. This was an experiment to find out what temperatures can be achieved, how long does the system take to get up to temperature and how long does the system retain the temperature once the fire has been extinguished. Our hypocaust is based on archaeological evidence from the remarkable Sparsholt Roman Villa, located around 6 km NW of Winchester, England. The excavation was one of the earliest Roman villas in Britain to be completely excavated, providing archaeologists with an exceptionally detailed understanding of the entire villa complex. #RomanHistory #ExperimentalArchaeology #RomanVilla #Hypocaust #AncientTechnology #Archaeology #LivingHistory #romanbritain ▬ About Us ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ Butser Ancient Farm is an open-air experimental archaeology museum and active research centre, learning about the past by recreating it. Our experiments are world-renowned, and our buildings include a Roman villa, Celtic village, Stone Age farm and Saxon halls — all reconstructed from real UK archaeology, and open to be explored! We do everything we can do share our passion for the past, from visitor opening and school groups to filming our experiments for bitesize documentaries. ▬ Support Us ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ Thanks to our supporters, we can continue to explore the cutting-edge of experimental archaeology, expand our understanding of the distant past, and pass our passion for archaeology onto the next generation. Visit www.butserancientfarm.co.uk/butserplus to learn more! ▬ Find Us Elsewhere! ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ ► Facebook: / butserancientfarm ► Bluesky: / butserancientfarm.co.uk ► Instagram: / butserancientfarm ► Website: www.butserancientfarm.co.uk