Archaeologists from the University of Warsaw (UW), during their excavations in Novae, northern Bulgaria, discovered two unique sets of buildings: wooden barracks of the 1st Augustus legion cohort and the monumental, luxurious Centurion House.

So far, nowhere else in Europe this type of construction has been researched to the extent allowing to draw general conclusions about the architecture, functioning and history of changes in the structure of ancient buildings.

In Roman and Byzantine times, Novae site was an important military center, a legionary stronghold of the 8th Augustus Legion, and later the seat of the first Italic legion (legio I Italica). In late antiquity it changed its character and became an important regional urban center.

It turned out that the wooden barracks are well-preserved, which allowed for establishing a number of details of their construction. We also obtained certainty about their layout in the entire sector of the camp. We seem to have even discovered a “Centurian” toilet, which is extremely rare, –  says Dr Martin Lemke of the Antiquity Research Center in Southeastern Europe.