Camulodunum also have possessed ports for the colonia. Imports of dates, wine (including Falernian wine), olive oil, jet, marble and other goods from across the Roman Empire have been found in Colchester, including a locally made amphora with an inscription suggesting that it held North African palm-tree fruit products. The trade in salt from local Red Hills also appears to have continued on from the Iron Age in the Roman period, but with more sophisticated evaporation kilns. Small numbers of tiles were imported from Eccles in Kent by Roman settlements in South-East Britain, including Camulodunum, for a brief time in the
Battle of Camulodunum hundred auxiliaries. Camulodunum was burned, and the temple, where the last of the defenders took refuge, fell after a two-day siege. The defenders were massacred. The Ninth Legion, commanded by Quintus Petillius Cerialis, attempted to relieve the siege. It is unlikely that the entire legionary strength of some 5,000 men was involved in the battle. Detachments of the legion were spread out across a network of small forts; on short notice, Cerialis was likely able to call on only the first cohort, possibly two others, auxiliary infantry, and a unit of some 500 cavalry - a total of perhaps 2,500