New archaeological research has found that the impact of the Roman Empire lasted much longer than scientists thought.
Archaeologists said the scientific research of a mosaic at Chedworth Roman Villa in Gloucestershire has "rewritten history."
Historians had long believed towns and villas were largely abandoned following the withdrawal of the Roman Empire from Britain in around AD 410, leading to the Dark Ages.
However, new analysis on the mosaic suggests sophisticated life continued long after the Romans left.
One of the floor mosaics at Chedworth Roman Villa in Gloucestershire
PA
National Trust archaeologist Martin Papworth said: "Our whole vision of this society is wrong...archive material suggests the Roman Empire collapsed in Britain in about AD 410 and after that the evidence seems to indicate that everything fell apart, but that doesn't necessarily mean it did.
"There are scant bits of history that indicate there was still a Romanised way of life - particularly in the West Country.
"The East of Britain, which is closer to Germany and Holland, became less Romanised more quickly. But the West Country, around Gloucestershire, Dorset and Somerset, seems to resist Saxon advance.
"It seems most likely that those places carried on as normal and that things gradually wound down, rather than falling off a cliff.
"The radiocarbon dating results suggest there was someone wealthy enough to commission a new mosaic for their home two or three generations after people said the whole country collapsed and everyone was living in shacks."
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Chedworth Roman Villa in Gloucestershire
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A sample of charcoal from the foundation trench of a wall, which the mosaic was built into, was sent for radiocarbon dating in 2017.
The results revealed the earliest date it could have been built as AD 424, suggesting the mosaic wasn't actually Roman, but was created in the early Medieval period.
The finding confused scientists as it suggests the mosaic was built decades after Britain entered the so-called "Dark Ages".
This is typically characterised by the advent of economic, intellectual, and cultural decline in Britain.
Ruins of Chedworth Roman Villa in Gloucestershire
Getty
Professor Alice Roberts described the discovery as "mind-blowing."
She said: "This is so exciting and it's unlikely to be unique. It's unlikely this is the only villa that carries on into the fifth, maybe sixth centuries. We have to go back and look at all the rest.
"It's one of those times when we can genuinely say, this is re-writing history."
Their findings were featured on the new BBC2 show Digging for Britain.