Leon, I believe the presenter was Dr. Lynn Courtenay of the Univ. of Wis. My memory agrees basically with you except the dating I think is earlier to the 4th cent late Roman Empire or very early Eastern Roman Empire. The truss system was said to be the oldest known truss in continuous use. It was a variant on the king post truss in which the king post did not tie to the bottom chord. A Victorian busy body decided that the truss would not ultimately work so he added iron strapping to connect the king post to the tie chord. Perhaps Dr. Courtenay has published an account on the roof system.
