Roman Incense Container Unearthed in Northern England

Archaeologists working on a Cockermouth site uncovered some “particularly spectacular finds” in the final days of their nine-week project.

The nine-strong team of experts has been working in riverside fields off Low Road and behind the Lakes Home Centre.

The Ecus team, from Barnard Castle, was called in by landowner Bob Slack who is keen to put some flood defences in the area.

In the first few weeks they discovered evidence of a Roman foundry, marching camp and small village, said Mr Slack.

They later discovered a bust, steelyard weight, coins, pottery and also the foundations of a building and flagged floors.

In the final week, they came across a copper-alloy incense container, which Ecus project officer Julie Shoemark described as “an exceptionally rare find”.

“The site has produced a wealth of information about the Roman inhabitants of the vicus and last week revealed some particularly spectacular finds,” she said.

“Firstly, we have a highly polished tiny stone figurine which has unfortunately not survived intact. What remains depicts a naked male rendered in typically ‘Romano-British’ style with simply carved large almond eyes and a distinctive spiked hairstyle.

“Secondly, a stone sculpture of a seated female figure was recovered from a rubble deposit. She has unfortunately lost her head, however, enough remains to tell us who she is.

“She wears a pattered mantle and carries a patera (a shallow bowl used for libations) in her right hand and a cornucopia containing an ear of wheat in her left. These attributes identify her as the goddess Fortuna, the goddess of luck, but also closely associated with the harvest in agricultural communities.”

The most striking find was a copper-alloy balsamarium (incense container).

“This is an exceptionally rare find, being one of only a handful excavated in Britain to date,” said Ms Shoemark.

“It is in the form of a bust of the youthful Bacchus, the god of wine, although the features appear to have been modelled after depictions of Antinous, the lover of Emperor Hadrian.

“In addition to being exceptionally rare, this artefact is in superb condition, missing only the lid which would have sat atop the head.”

The only other example of a balsamarium of similar design was recovered from the River Eden, Carlisle and is on display at Tullie House.

Bacchus is most widely known as the god of winemaking but is also associated with agriculture, particularly orchards, and fertility.

“We previously had an exquisite steelyard weight depicting Silenus, the satyr companion of Bacchus, so we now have a nice group of finds carrying the running theme of agriculture and fertility, which would have been central to the lives of this community,” said Ms Shoemark.

“Together these and the other artefacts from the excavation are allowing us to build a picture of the history of the site and its inhabitants.

“We look forward to sharing the full results following specialist research and assessment of the assemblage in due course.”

The land, which will be covered with soil and reseeded, is in a flood zone so cannot be developed. Mr Slack has planning permission for 27 homes adjacent to the Lovells development on Low Road.

Archaeologists discover medieval a tableman gaming piece in Bedfordshire, England

Archaeologists in Bedfordshire, England, have made an intriguing discovery: a tableman gaming piece was discovered at a medieval site.

Cotswold Archaeology excavated in preparation for a Taylor Wimpey housing development at Bidwell West, near Houghton Regis and Dunstable.

In addition to the tableman, the archaeological team discovered a medieval timber-framed building and a series of medieval enclosure ditches.

The gaming piece, which has a diameter of nearly 6cm, is made from a cattle mandible – a large, sturdy bone, which serves as the lower jawbone of a cow, according to a press release. Its face has been decorated with concentric circles and a ring-and-dot design, which is attractive although not unusual.

Tablemen were used to play a variety of board games in which two players rolled dice and moved their pieces across rows of markings.

The term ‘tables’ is derived from the Latin tabula, which originally meant “board” or “plank” and was introduced to Britain during the Roman period.

One of the more popular table games among the Romans was Ludus duodecim scriptorium. It was a dice game with three cubic dice, and each player had 15 pieces to move.

The game of tabula was most likely refined from Ludus duodecim scriptorium, and it grew in popularity during the medieval period. Tabula, like Backgammon, has two rows of twenty-four points.

The tableman found at Bidwell West has a diameter of nearly 6cm (2.36 in) and similar examples in both size and decoration style have been recovered at other sites, including an example from Winchester, Hampshire which was made in the medieval period (11th-13th centuries).

As Cotswolds Archeology also wrote in its description:: “It is not always possible to identify which game the gaming pieces recovered from archaeological excavations would have belonged to, because there is often no surviving board.

However, due to the association with the medieval site, the style of decoration, and the size, it is likely that the gaming piece was used to play tabula during the medieval period.

Chelmsford: Roman Apollo ring with links to Snettisham hoard found

A silver ring unearthed in an Essex field may be connected to a famous Roman jeweller’s hoard found in Norfolk in 1985, a historian has said. The ring is inset with a carnelian carving of the god Apollo. It was found by a metal detectorist near Chelmsford.

Its 2nd Century wearer would have hoped for the god’s protection, Essex finds liaison officer Lori Rogerson said.

The ring seemed to be from the same workshop as the Snettisham hoard of carved gemstones, she added.

The large hoard was found buried in a pot during building work and included 110 unmounted gemstone intaglios – carved gemstones used as seals – silver jewellery and ingots, 110 coins, and tools, Its contents are now at the British Museum.

Miss Rogerson said the way it had been carved using long strokes and the fact it dated from AD125 to 175 suggested a connection to the Norfolk hoard.

The ring would have been used as a seal to sign documents by “literate men and women in wider Romano-British society which grew around military towns… leaving an impression of the engraved image in wax”, she added.

But it would also have been a “very personal” object.

“We know these people would have had a very close personal relationship with their gods and goddesses,” she said.

“Apollo, being the god of healing and prophecy, would hopefully have protected the wearer from harm or illness.

“It’s also really interesting because it’s evidence of a pagan religion that has its roots in Ancient Greece being worshipped by Romano-British society.”

Another ring unearthed at Upper Winchendon, near Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, in 2018 is also believed to have links to the Snettisham workshop.

The Essex ring was declared treasure by a coroner and Chelmsford Museum hopes to acquire it.

Bronze Age and Roman-era settlements unearthed in Newquay

Archaeologists from the Cornwall Archaeological have uncovered ancient dwellings from the Bronze Age and a Roman period settlement in Newquay, England.

The discovery was made at the site of a new housing development in Newquay.

The excavations team found three Bronze Age roundhouses and a Roman-period settlement – consisting of an oval house, a large processing area (thought to be used for cereals), and two rectangular buildings (probably former barns).

The discovered dwellings, on the site of a new housing development in Newquay, include large quantities of Bronze Age Trevisker ware pottery, Roman-period imported pottery, and worked stone tools from both periods.

According to the researchers, Bronze Age structures have been found at various sites across Cornwall over the past 30 years, however, the discovery of a cluster of roundhouses in such a small area is still a rare find.

Sean Taylor, Senior Archaeologist at the Cornwall Archaeological Unit, said: “Although quite a few of these Bronze Age structures have been found at various sites around the county over the last 30 or so years starting with Trethellan at Newquay in 1987, it’s still rare to find so much in one small area.

“The Roman house is similar to buildings found at Trethurgy Round near St Austell in the 1970s and are of a type unique to Cornwall. The rectangular agricultural buildings on the other hand are fairly common throughout Roman Britain but this is the first time that they have been discovered in Cornwall.\“It’s starting to look like this part of Newquay, alongside the River Gannel, was a very important and densely populated area from the Neolithic (c 4000BC) onwards. The estuary undoubtedly formed an important link with the outside world throughout prehistory.”

The Cornwall Archaeological Unit completed their work at the end of March. The site will now be handed over to the developer, Treveth.

Many of the finds, which include large quantities of Bronze Age Trevisker ware pottery, Roman-period imported pottery, and worked stone tools from both periods, are expected to be housed in a local museum.

Was Stonehenge an ancient calendar? A new study says no

Stonehenge wasn’t a prehistoric solar calendar but served mainly as a memorial to the dead, according to new research by scientists who study ancient astronomy.

The first stones at Stonehenge were emplaced in southern England about 5,000 years ago, and the monument was constructed in stages over roughly 1,000 years. But researchers have debated its purpose for centuries. The new study, published March 23 in the journal Antiquity, disputes claims made last year that it functioned as a solar calendar with 356.25 days — almost exactly the measurement used for the solar calendar today, according to that study’s author, Timothy Darvill, a professor of archaeology and Stonehenge expert at Bournemouth University in the U.K. 

Darvill’s interpretation has been rejected by two scientists — mathematician Giulio Magli of the Polytechnic of Milan and astronomer Juan Antonio Belmonteof the Institute of Astrophysics of the Canary Islands — who say Stonehenge wasn’t accurate enough to serve as a solar calendar.

Darvill told Live Science in an email that he still stands by the interpretation. But Magli and Belmonte say in their latest study that last year’s finding is “based … on “a series of forced interpretations, numerology, and unsupported analogies with other cultures.”

“From a symbolic point of view, Stonehenge is of course related to celestial phenomena,” Magli told Live Science, noting its celebrated alignments with the midwinter and midsummer solstices. But “this is far from saying it was used as a giant calendar,” he said.

Ancient stones

In his March 2022 study in the journal Antiquity, Darvill wrote that the ring of giant “sarsen” stones (derived from the medieval English word “saracen,” meaning “pagan”) emplaced at Stonehenge in about 2500 B.C. may have functioned as a solar calendar, perhaps for determining feast days or for reinforcing political power by demonstrating a “control” of the cosmos.

For example, archaeologists think there were originally 30 standing stones in the main circle at Stonehenge — although only 17 now remain — and Darvill argued they could have corresponded to a “month” of 30 days; while the inner five “trilithons” — two standing stones capped by a lintel stone — may have represented the five days of each year left over after counting off 12 months.

The design of Stonehenge could have been influenced by solar calendars used at that time in the Near East — the ancient Egyptian calendar among them — which would imply a cultural connection between them, perhaps by long-distance travelers, Darvill added.

But Magli and Belmonte argue that the circle of standing stones wasn’t accurate enough to determine the length of the year; that nothing at Stonehenge embodies the 12 months of the year; and that there is no evidence of a cultural exchange between ancient Britain and the ancient Near East.

Archaeologist Michael Parker Pearson of University College London, a Stonehenge expert who wasn’t involved in the research, agrees with the authors of the latest study that there’s no good evidence of cultural connections between Stonehenge and ancient solar cults in the Near East. “Ideas like this about long-distance links have been around for over a century [but] are not taken seriously anymore,” he told Live Science in an email. 

Megalithic monument

Archaeologists now think Stonehenge’s main purpose was as part of a prehistoric ceremonial landscape built in memory of ancestral dead; excavations show that many different parts of the vast megalithic complex were used for burials for hundreds of years. Magli said this may explain its alignment with the winter solstice, which seems to have been an important annual date relating to the dead in some prehistoric religions. But while the annual solstice alignment is evident, the relatively low number of stones and their imprecision meant Stonehenge would have been too inaccurate to use as a calendar, he said.

Darvill said that the latest criticisms do not refute the suggestions made in his 2022 paper.

“What they say does not undermine the essential model of the sarsen structures at Stonehenge being constructed as a manifestation of a perpetual solar calendar,” he told Live Science in an email.

But some archaeologists share some of the reservations of Magli and Belmonte and are unconvinced by Darvill’s idea.

Matt Leivers, a consultant archaeologist at Wessex Archaeology in the U.K., has studied Stonehenge for decades but wasn’t involved in either study. “All this really shows is how easy it is to read calendrical divisions into Stonehenge’s architecture, and how unprovable any of it is,” he told Live Science in an email.

Roman villa mosaic found under Aldi supermarket site

Archaeologists have uncovered what they believe are the remains of a Roman villa and bath house under land earmarked for a supermarket.

The discovery, which features mosaic brickwork, was made in Warrington Road in Olney, Buckinghamshire.

The site is being prepared for the construction of a new Aldi supermarket.

Oxford Archaeology, who carried out the work for developer Angle Property, deemed the mosaic “archaeological remains of high significance”.

The dig was commissioned due to the site’s proximity to the existing Roman Site at Olney.

Archaeologists said the mosaic featured “vibrant colours and intricate decorative patterns” made up of red, white and blue tiles.

Much of the ancient artworks were believed to extend under Warrington Road so could not be fully investigated, the digl team said.

Oxford Archaeology said that following consultations with Historic England and Milton Keynes Council, the mosaic has been preserved in situ.

It means materials have been placed over the brickwork to protect it, to allow construction to continue without causing damage.

John Boothroyd, senior project manager at Oxford Archaeology, said: “Due to the site location we anticipated some notable Roman remains, but the discovery of this fantastic mosaic far exceeded those expectations.

“To be able to preserve remains of this quality and importance is a brilliant outcome, and one that could only have been achieved with the support of Angle Property.”

Anthony Williamson, executive director of Angle, said the find had “taken us all by surprise” and promised it “will be fully recorded” and information about it published.

Roman Lead Coffin Unearthed in Northern England

Skeletal remains of a Roman aristocrat have been unearthed in a “truly extraordinary” hidden cemetery dating back 1,600 years. Bones belonging to the high-status woman were discovered in an ancient lead coffin during a dig in the town of Garforth, near Leeds.

Archaeologists said the “once in a lifetime” find could help unlock secrets of a period spanning from the fall of the Roman empire in AD400 to the beginnings of the Anglo-Saxon era.

David Hunter, the principal archaeologist with West Yorkshire Joint Services, said: “This has the potential to be a find of massive significance for what we understand about the development of ancient Britain and Yorkshire.”

Unusually for an ancient cemetery, the remains found in Garforth belonged to people from the late Roman and the early Saxon eras. The skeleton of the late Roman aristocratic woman was found alongside the remains of 60 men, women and children from the two periods.

Archaeologists traced the burial traditions of both cultures in the cemetery, the precise location of which is being kept secret.

Hunter said: “The presence of two communities using the same burial site is highly unusual and whether their use of this graveyard overlapped or not will determine just how significant the find is.

“When seen together the burials indicate the complexity and precariousness of life during what was a dynamic period in Yorkshire’s history. The lead coffin itself is extremely rare, so this has been a truly extraordinary dig.”

Experts will seek to establish precise timeframes for the burials by carbon dating the remains. Chemical tests will be carried out to try to determine how they lived and what they ate, as well as details about their ancestry.

Leeds city council said the discovery was made last spring but could only be revealed now because of the need to keep the site safe while tests were carried out.

Although the exact location remains a secret, the excavation was in part prompted by a discovery nearby of late Roman stone buildings and a small number of Anglo-Saxon-style structures.

Kylie Buxton, the on-site supervisor for the excavations, said it was every archaeologist’s dream to work on such a project, adding: “There is always a chance of finding burials, but to have discovered a cemetery of such significance, at such a time of transition, was quite unbelievable.

“For me, it was a particular honour to excavate the high-status lead coffin burial, but it was a great team effort by everyone involved.”

Early analysis indicates some of those in the cemetery held early Christian beliefs, and Saxons were accompanied by personal possessions such as knives and pottery.

The council said it hoped the coffin would be displayed in an upcoming exhibition at Leeds City Museum exploring death and burial customs from across the world.

Evidence of Rare Romano-Celtic Temple Near Lancaster Castle -may be only the second of its type –

A study exercise for students from Lancaster University has uncovered a Romano-Celtic temple, only the second of its type in northern Britain. The discovery was made during a hydro geophysics training session near Lancaster’s Roman military fort and castle, revealing an extensive religious enclosure identified as a Romano-Celtic temple.

Lancaster had a large military fort and garrison in Roman times. It was an important command center between Chester and Hadrian’s Wall and a base for naval operations and supply.

Around AD 80, the Lancaster Roman Fort, also known as Wery Wall, Galacum, or Calunium (the fort’s modern name), was first built atop Castle Hill in Lancaster to guard a bridge over the River Lune. Archaeological evidence suggests that the fort remained active until the end of the Roman occupation of Britain in the early 5th century.

Professor Andy Binley, an expert in hydro geophysics at Lancaster Environment Centre, offered to use his research expertise and equipment to continue the work of the Beyond The Castle archaeological project when heritage lottery funding ran out in 2017.

“I had a few Ph.D. students doing geophysical research and thought this was an interesting group hobby project, training them on techniques and getting them to work as a team,” said Professor Binley, who uses geophysical methods to solve hydrological problems, such as assessing underground water in agriculture and tracking groundwater contamination.

The Beyond the Castle project had been using standard geophysical techniques followed by trial excavation to explore the green open space between Lancaster Castle and the River Lune. These had revealed evidence of a building, thought to be a Roman warehouse, under an area called Quay Meadow, owned by Lancaster City Council. But Professor Binley and his students would make much more extensive, and exciting discoveries.

Using ground penetrating radar, resistivity mapping, and modeling to produce high-resolution 3D images, the study found evidence of a Romano-Celtic temple showing a walled enclosure with a gateway leading to a processional way.

The mapping data also shows a possible roadside mausoleum outside the enclosure, and what might be the base of an altar close to the temple.

The major discovery was what Beyond the Castle project’s leading archaeologist, Jason Wood believes is a Romano-Celtic temple – only the second such temple found in Northern Britain – the other one is close to Hadrian’s Wall.

These temples have a very specific design – two sets of walls forming a square within a square, with a very small interior.

“It would have been dedicated to a god, probably associated with the sea or river. The inner sanctum was reserved for the priests, and the outer ambulatory space was for elite members of society,” said Mr Wood.

“Most of the religious activities would have happened outside the temple, including sacrifices. There would have been a sanctuary or enclosure, possibly with another temple and buildings associated with hospitality and curing the sick. The enclosure would have been separate from the fort, but connected to it by a road or processional way.”

“So few of these sites have been excavated in the UK, so it is significant to have found a Romano-Celtic temple in its temenos (enclosure) by a river,” said Mr Wood.

The findings are outlined in the paper ‘Lancaster Romano-Celtic temple is significant find’ published by British Archaeology.