The Express (UK) newspaper has a story dating from December 2019 describing a new find in the vicinity of the Coventry Airport. Joel Day, the writer of the piece, describes finds, what he describes as ”a wealth of Roman and Anglo-Saxon artefacts” at the burial site. Included among the finds, from gravesites near the airport, are items indicating that the buried included a Roman officer and a young Roman girl.
There were also a dozen Anglo-Saxon graves at the site. One of the Anglo-Saxon graves evidently was that of a “high-status” individual.
Of the jewelry that was found, the experts say that some link to southern Europe was indicated by the motifs used, or the symbolism, such as that of a cicada. Roman-style jewelry was found.
But should this be a shock, or a startling find? It’s been said for years that the Roman Empire carried on a trade with Britain even in the time of Jesus, and before; there was the tin trade between ‘the Isles’ and Rome. There was seagoing traffic between the Phoenicians and western Europe.But it’s good to have some verification, if this find provides it, that Britain was not isolated from the rest of the known world then. Some dispute that, but it seems more plausible than not.