Roman Intaglios Discovered in Bath Drain in England

Taking your valuables with you into a swimming pool is always a risk. The Romans should have paid better heed, judging from the quantity of gemstones recovered from the drain of one of their bathhouses.

As many as 30 semi-precious stones have been discovered by archaeologists almost 2,000 years after their owners lost them at a site in modern-day Carlisle, just behind Hadrian’s Wall.

The stones had dropped out of their ring settings, their glue probably weakened in the steamy baths. They were simply flushed into the drains when the pools and saunas were cleaned.

Their loss would have been painful as these were engraved gems, known as intaglios. Although barely a few millimetres in diameter, they bear images whose extraordinary craftsmanship suggests they would have been expensive items in their day – the late 2nd century or 3rd century.

One bather lost an amethyst depicting Venus, holding either a flower or a mirror. Another lost a red-brown jasper featuring a satyr seated on rocks next to a sacred column.

Frank Giecco, an expert on Roman Britain who is leading the bathhouse excavation, was astonished by the collection: “It’s incredible,” he said. “It’s caught everyone’s imagination. They were just falling out of people’s rings who were using the baths. They were set with a vegetable glue and, in the hot and sweaty bathhouse, they fell out of the ring settings.”

He can imagine the Romans cursing after realising their loss. “They may not even have noticed until they got home because it’s the actual stone falling out of the rings – although we’ve also found one ring with a setting.”

Professor Martin Henig, an expert on Roman art at the University of Oxford, said: “Metal expands. If the stone is not properly secured, it can fall out, as it can today with people bathing. I imagine that the gems recovered from the drain were accumulated over time, and we must remember that a lot of people used those baths.”

Intaglios have previously been recovered from drains at York and at Caerleon near Newport. The Romans faced the dilemma we still face today of either losing their valuables in the water or to a sneak thief while they were bathing. This is reflected in several “curse tablets” found in Bath and elsewhere, which wished revenge on the perpetrators of such crimes.

One of those curses targets a ring thief: “So long as someone, whether slave or free, keeps silent or knows anything about it, he may be accursed in blood, and eyes and every limb and even have all intestines quite eaten away if he has stolen the ring.”

Henig said: “The difficulty is that you needed to take your ring off, but there were dangers. Where did you leave it? People must have been very upset when they lost a ring or the gem set in its bezel.”

The bathhouse was adjacent to the most important Roman fort on Hadrian’s Wall, the empire’s northern frontier, which held an elite cavalry unit and had links to the imperial court. Excavations will continue next year, but the evidence recovered so far – including imperial-stamped tiles – suggests that the bathhouse complex was monumental and opulent.

Giecco said: “You don’t find such gems on low-status Roman sites. So they’re not something that would have been worn by the poor.”

Beyond their decorative purposes, as rings worn by men and women, there was a symbolism within their imagery. The newly discovered intaglios include military themes, such as the god Mars holding a spear, and fertility, notably a charming image of a mouse nibbling a branch – Romans saw mice as symbols of rebirth or fertility.

Giecco said: “Some of the intaglios are minuscule, around 5mm ; 16mm is the largest intaglio. The craftsmanship to engrave such tiny things is incredible.”

The drain discoveries also include more than 40 women’s hairpins and 35 glass beads, probably from a necklace.

Victorian-Era Lead Coffin Unearthed at Leicester Cathedral

Excavations at Leicester Cathedral have uncovered the lead coffin of a surgeon at the city’s Victorian asylum.

Edward Entwistle Wilkinson’s remains were unearthed in a dig by University of Leicester archaeologists.

The find triggered research into his life and career as the first resident medical officer at the Leicestershire and Rutland County Lunatic Asylum.

Academics found he had made “a significant contribution” to modern medicine in the city.

The university team found Wilkinson’s coffin while they were digging in the area of the cathedral’s song school, which has been demolished to make way for a new visitor centre as part of the continuing Leicester Cathedral Revealed project.

It was among more than 1,000 burials so far revealed by the archaeologists in rows which were in use from the late 1820s to the closure of the cemetery in 1856.

Amber Furmage, from University of Leicester Archaeological Services (ULAS), discovered Wilkinson, who lived from 1796 to 1846, was a house surgeon and apothecary at the Leicester Infirmary and the first resident medical officer of the then newly opened county asylum.

The asylum building would later become the first University of Leicester campus and is now called Fielding Johnson Building.

During his 17 years in the role, he expanded the dispensary, improved the medicinal planting in the hospital’s garden and helped procure an Infirmary Carriage for Accidents.

At the asylum, his peers praised his talents and conduct and “his ability and tenderness in the treatment of patient”.

Wilkinson died from typhus fever in July 1846 aged 50.

A plaque in the great south aisle of the cathedral was dedicated to him and his wife Elizabeth.

Ms Furmage said: “The discovery of a named individual is always exciting due to the amount of information we can track down about their lives, and this has been particularly true in the case of Edward Entwistle Wilkinson.

“Over his lifetime, he made significant contributions to the development of modern medicine in Leicester, leaving a lasting impact on the city and beyond.”

The remains will be reinterred by Leicester Cathedral once the project is completed.

Rare Iron Age Wooden Axle Discovered in England

Part of an “exceptionally rare” Iron Age wooden axle from a chariot or cart has been found in a waterlogged pit.

The fragment was uncovered in 2021 at Eastbridge, Suffolk, ahead of tree planting for the Sizewell C nuclear power station project.

Recent analysis revealed the hazel wood axle was made between 400BC and 100BC.

Archaeologist Chris Fern said it joins a handful of finds “from British later prehistory, such as the axle found at Flag Fen, Peterborough”.

The dig unearthed two Iron Age pits, which experts believe were most likely used as watering holes for livestock.

As they were waterlogged, they provided “ideal preservation conditions for wood”, said Mr Fern, a Cotswold Archaeology post-excavation manager.

The base of the axle had been broken, burned and reused and was found with charred boards, which might also have come from the same chariot.

Mr Fern said: “Most of the spindle – for the wheel hub – survives, as well as part of the rectangular axle-bed which would have been secured to the underside of the cart or chariot.”

The fragment has just been identified through analysis by dendrochronologist Michael Bamforth, a research associate at the University of York.

The axle had been repurposed in ancient times to prevent the collapse of the waterhole into the site’s sandy soil, Mr Fern said.

He added the axle” is an “exceptionally rare find”, which can “be viewed in the context of the famous chariot burials of the Iron Age in Britain, such as those from Wetwang, East Riding of Yorkshire”.

Mesolithic Human Remains Discovered in Northern England

Human remains unearthed in a cave in Cumbria have been dubbed the “oldest northerner” after being found to date back 11,000 years.

Bone and a shell bead discovered at Heaning Wood Bone Cave, near Great Urswick, were analysed by the University of Central Lancashire.

Dr Rick Peterson said the site had been used for burials.

He described it as evidence of “some of the earliest dates for human activity” in northern Britain after the Ice Age.

The site had been excavated since 2016 by local archaeologist Martin Stables with the university brought in to “try to interpret the evidence”.

Dr Peterson, who teaches archaeology and cultural anthropology, led the academic team.

He said several bodies from the cave had been dated and the group was amazed when one set of remains was found to be much older than thought.

“The caves have been dug before, in the 1950s, and work by Liverpool John Moores University about 10 years ago dated some of the material to the early Bronze Age [about 4,000 years ago].

“There were at least eight people buried in this cave. Some of them came back [dated] from the Bronze Age, some of them were Neolithic which is about 6,000 years ago.

“One individual and one piece of shell bead buried with him came back with a date roundabout 11,000 years ago which is astonishingly early for the north.

“To put it in perspective, the last Ice Age lasted until about 11,600 years ago. After that period, the global temperature warmed rapidly over about 100 years to give us the climate we’ve got today.

“These people are just about as early as we could expect them to be – the pioneers reoccupying the land after the Ice Age.”

Earlier human remains have been discovered in southern England and Wales but the destructive effect of past glaciations means such finds are rare in northern Britain, the university said.

Before this discovery, the “earliest northerner” was a 10,000-year-old burial from the nearby Kent’s Bank Cavern discovered in 2013.

‘Better than finding gold’: towers’ remains may rewrite history of English civil war

When archaeologists working on the route of HS2 began excavating a stretch of pasture in Warwickshire, they were not expecting to uncover what one of them calls “the highlight of our careers”. Their excavations revealed the monumental stone bases of two towers from a late medieval fortified gatehouse, the existence of which had been completely lost to history.

While that find was remarkable in itself, the ruins were even more significant than they first appeared – and might even rewrite the history of the English civil war.

Peppering the sandstone walls were hundreds of pockmarks made by musket balls and pistol shot, showing that the building had come under heavy fire.

Experts think this may be evidence that the gatehouse was shot at by parliamentarian troops heading to the nearby Battle of Curdworth Bridge in August 1642, which would make this the scene of the very first skirmish of the civil war.

The finds were “a real shock”, said Stuart Pierson of Wessex Archaeology, who led excavations on the site. “The best way to describe it is that we were just in awe of this tower.

“People always say that you want to find gold in archaeology, but I think for a lot of us finding that tower will always be better than finding gold. I think it’s the highlight of our careers finding that, and I don’t think we’re going to find anything like that again.”

The team knew that a large Tudor manor house had stood somewhere near the site at Coleshill, east of Birmingham, but its location had been lost. As they started excavating, they were astonished at the state of preservation of its vast ornamental gardens – larger in scale than at Hampton Court.

Pierson had said to colleagues that he expected there might be the remains of a gatehouse, “but we figured a small box structure. We weren’t thinking anything involving towers.” He was on holiday when the first walls were uncovered. “My colleagues say their favourite memory from the site was my expression when I [returned and] saw this complete tower,” he said.

Taken together, the finds make the site “nationally significant – and a bit more”, he added.

In the lead up to the civil war, which pitched forces loyal to King Charles I against parliamentarian soldiers seeking to topple him, Coleshill Manor was in the hands of a royalist, Simon Digby.

The position of his grand home, next to a key strategic crossing of the River Cole, would have put it directly in the path of parliamentarians on the march to Curdworth Bridge. While it is impossible to prove, experts think it is highly likely that it is their musket balls – dozens of which were recovered from the site – which struck the gatehouse on this journey.

While the discovery potentially rewrites the history of the start of the civil war, Pierson said, it can also tell us more about the experience of those living through it. “What it gives us is a more personal [insight] to the civil war.

There are always stories about royalty and the lead parliamentarians, but there’s not so much focus given to the people themselves, even the upper classes who found themselves involved but weren’t necessarily really part of it.”

The discovery features on Digging for Britain on BBC Two at 8pm on Sunday 22 January.

Headless Skeletons Unearthed in Eastern England

A number of decapitated skeletons have been uncovered by archaeologists at a Roman burial site.

The discovery, which included evidence of Roman and Iron Age settlements, was made at Wintringham near St Neots, Cambridgeshire.

Dating from 2,500 years ago, the site will feature in the latest series of BBC Two’s Digging for Britain.

Patrick Moan from Oxford Archaeology said the find had “revealed amazing insights into the people” of the area.

The work comes ahead of a development of about 2,800 homes in the village.

Archaeologists uncovered an Iron Age settlement composed of 40 roundhouses and a network of trackways and enclosures related to farming activities.

The Oxford Archaeology team also discovered Roman coins, brooches, a large lead lid or platter, and numerous pottery vessels.

A Roman kiln and a large number of quern and millstones, used to grind grains, were also found.

Experts said the decapitated skeletons dated back to the third century AD, with 11 out of the 17 burials having their heads positioned by the feet.

The individuals were interred carefully, often buried with pottery and in one case, a pottery vessel was found in place of the head, archaeologists said.

Mr Moan, the project manager, said: “These results add greatly to our understanding of the local landscape’s history which we can now share with local communities.”

Specialists will now start analysing the skeletons with the hope of providing more details about the burial rites that were in use in the area.

The discovery will feature on episode three of Digging for Britain on BBC Two at 21:00 GMT on Sunday or on the iPlayer.

Mesolithic Artifacts Unearthed in Northern England

Finds discovered at a Stone Age settlement unearthed in North Yorkshire have helped shed new light on the lives of hunter-gatherers living around 10,500 years ago.

Archaeologists uncovered animal bones, tools and weapons, along with rare evidence of woodworking, during excavations at the site near Scarborough.

Experts said the items suggested their owners were far from “struggling to survive”, as many may imagine of people alive at the time.

Dr Nick Overton, from the University of Manchester, said the excavation had enabled them to learn more about “these early prehistoric communities”.

The site originally lay on the shore of an island in an ancient lake and dates to the Mesolithic period, according to the team from the universities of Manchester and Chester, with thick deposits of peat gradually burying and preserving the site over thousands of years.

“It is so rare to find material this old in such good condition,” Dr Overton said.

“The Mesolithic in Britain was before the introduction of pottery or metals, so finding organic remains like bone, antler and wood, which are usually not preserved, are incredibly important in helping us to reconstruct peoples’ lives.”

The team said the dig uncovered evidence of a wide range of animals being hunted, including elk and red deer, and smaller mammals such as beavers and water birds.

The bodies of hunted animals were also butchered and parts of them intentionally deposited into the wetlands at the island site, they said.

Hunting weapons made of animal bone and antler had also been decorated and taken apart before being deposited on the island’s shore.

This, the archaeologists believed, showed that Mesolithic people had strict rules about how the remains of animals and objects used to kill them were disposed of.

Dr Amy Gray Jones, from the University of Chester, said: “People often think of prehistoric hunter-gatherers as living on the edge of starvation, moving from place to place in an endless search for food.

“But here we have people inhabiting a rich network of sites and habitats, taking the time to decorate objects, and taking care over the ways they disposed of animal remains and important artefacts.

“These aren’t people that were struggling to survive. They were people confident in their understanding of this landscape, and of the behaviours and habitats of different animal species that lived there,” she added.

The excavations are featured in episode five of the new series of Digging for Britain.

Londoner solves 20,000-year Ice Age drawings mystery

Ancient cave paintings, like animal figures and handprints, are generally thought to have meanings, however, the specifics of these drawings have long eluded experts. But now, British scientists have claimed to have decoded why Ice Age hunter-gatherers drew cave paintings. 

Independent researcher Ben Bacon took an interest in cave art drawings. “The meaning of the markings within these drawings has always intrigued me so I set about trying to decode them,” he told the BBC.

Mr Bacon spent hours at the British library searching for photos of cave art online and collected “as much data as possible and began looking for patterns”.

He analysed 20,000-year-old markings on the drawings and concluded that they could refer to a lunar calendar. 

As his research and idea progressed, Mr Bacon reached out to academics to collaborate with them. He published a study in the  Cambridge Archaeological Journal along with senior academics from Durham University and University College London (UCL), which revealed that Ice Age hunter-gatherers were using markings combined with drawings of their animal prey to store and communicate “sophisticated” information about the behaviour of species crucial to their survival at least 20,000 years ago. 

In the study, the researchers explained that as the marks, found in more than 600 images on cave walls and objects across Europe, record information numerically and reference a calendar rather than recording speech, they cannot be called “writing” in the sense of the pictographic and cuneiform systems of early writing that emerged in Sumer from 3,400 BC onwards.

Instead, the team refers to them as a “proto-writing system” – pre-dating other token-based systems that are thought to have emerged during the Neolithic period by at least 10,000 years.

The researchers in particular examined a ‘Y’ sign on some paintings, which they felt might be a symbol for “giving birth” as it showed one line growing out from another.

Their study showed that the sequences record mating and birthing seasons and found a “statistically significant” correlation between the number of marks the position of the ‘Y’ sign and the months in which modern animals mate and birth respectively. 

Professors Paul Pettitt of Durham University said, “This is a fascinating study that has brought together independent and professional researchers with expertise in archaeology and visual psychology, to decode information first recorded thousands of years ago.” 

“The result show that Ice Age hunter-gatherers were the first to use a systematic calendar and marks to record information about major ecological events within that calendar. In turn, we’re able to show that these people – who left a legacy of spectacular art in the caves of Lascaux and Altamira – also left a record of early timekeeping that would eventually become commonplace among our species,” Mr Pettitt added. 

Post a commentIn the study, the researchers showed that despite the difficulties, researchers can crack the meaning of at least some of the symbols. For Bacon, the findings had even more significance. “As we probe deeper into their world, what we are discovering is that these ancient ancestors are a lot more like us than we had previously thought,” he said. “These people, separated from us by many millennia, are suddenly a lot closer,” Mr Bacon added.