(IMAGE: GUARD Archaeology Ltd)A previously unknown Roman marching camp has been discovered in Ayr, adding new evidence to our understanding of the Roman conquest of Scotland. Roman marching camps are usually identified through the regular linear ditches that enclosed them, but such features were not found at the Ayr site. As Iraia Arabaolaza, who led the dig, explained: ‘There was a ford across the River Ayr just below the Roman marching camp, and ships may have been beached on the nearby shoreline. The Ayr marching camp is 20 miles from the nearest Roman camp to the south at Girvan, which corresponds to a day’s march for a Roman soldier. There is a little more distance to other Roman camps to the northeast near Strathaven.