Jason could hear the capitals in The Expert and understood why the German would be a little puzzled. He waved a hand in a deprecating manner.

“Franny was telling me about it, and I’ve never been on a dig before. I sort of feel that participating in a real dig is important for a history academic, even if it is only mere Roman stuff.” He winked very obviously at Franny and smiled at the two professors. “I am quite happy to be one of the slave laborers, I mean technical assistants,” He paused, and both professors smiled at the joke. “With no experience, I could expect nothing less. Besides, all the Minoan sites have been done to death over the last two centuries, and I was intrigued by what Franny told me regarding the dig last year. Being on a site with at least one person I know to show me the ropes can’t hurt either.”

Heinrich nodded. Just then, another person arrived and was greeted warmly by the German. “Andria Geseppo, good to see you. Allow me to introduce one of our, um,” He paused and smiled at Jason. “Technical assistants this season, Doctor Jason Lerner.” The tall fellow shook hands readily enough, smiling as he did so.

“Ah. A Doctor as a technical assistant, eh? You are a brave man.” He commented.

He had a strong southern European accent, and from the name Jason assumed was Italian. The dark hair and southern European complexion reinforced the impression.

Jason shrugged and smiled. “Everyone has to start somewhere.”

Heinrich smirked. “True. Very true. Andria is doing his Doctorate largely based on our finds at Brampton, so he is especially keen to find something interesting or at least unusual. He is not satisfied with just finding a pair of previously unknown Roman forts.”

“Unknown?” Jason prompted.

It was rare to find a previously unknown Roman site these days. Well, not large ones like forts anyway.

“Yes. Most of the forts along the Wall are well documented, but there is no mention of this one that we have found near Brampton. The older, lower one can be explained because it appears to date from the Late First Century, probably Agricola’s campaign. At least the few bits and pieces we have found point to the first century for a date. The newer, upper one, is different and later but how much later we have not been able to determine. Hopefully this year.” The Italian offered as he shrugged and smiled. His English was actually rather good, and although accented, Jason was having no trouble understanding him.

Professor Armstrong chimed in. “Yes. So far, we have not been able to date the later fort. It might be from the Antonine period, the Severan, or possibly even later. Initially, we thought it near contemporary with the lower one, perhaps dating from a campaign a few years later, but the more we have dug, the less likely that seems. In fact, it is possible the builders of the later fort were not even aware of the earlier one at all, or at least not when they first laid it out.”

“Really?” Jason prompted the Englishman, finding himself intrigued.

“Yes. It is laid out on a slightly different alignment and seems to take no account of the earlier fort at all.” Armstrong replied, shaking his head to reflect the bemused tone in his voice.