EAST SUSSEX, ENGLAND—Archaeologists working ahead of road construction in southeastern England have found evidence of the region’s high-quality iron industry. “There are only a small number of really high quality iron resources in Northern Europe. The ones here around Hastings are some of the best, and certainly in Britain they are the best,” said county archaeologist Casper Johnson. He thinks that the quality of iron produced at these sites would have drawn the attention of the Roman Empire. “Iron was the key technology, a key resource—this is 2,000 years ago, for weapons through to nails and the fittings for wagons and horses,” he explained.