The Hallaton Roman helmet

Roman cavalry helmet found in Iron Age shrine may prove Britons fought with legions
Constructed of sheet iron, the helmet, once decorated with gold leaf, is the only one to have been found in Britain with its silver gilt plating intact.
The helmet features scenes of Roman military victory, including the bust of a woman flanked by lions, and a Roman Emperor on horseback with the goddess Victory flying behind and a cowering figure, possibly a native Briton, being trampled under his horse’s hooves.

The object is believed to have been buried in the years around Roman  Emperor Claudius’s invasion of Britain in AD43.
The ”distinct possibility” that it belonged to a Briton serving in the Roman cavalry before the conquest of Britain raises questions about the relationship between Romans and Britons.
It is thought that the helmet may have been buried at what was  a local shrine on the Briton’s return to the East Midlands, as a gift to the gods.
It was unearthed in Hallaton, Leicestershire, after a retired design and technology teacher detected coins with his second-hand metal detector, which he had bought for just £260.
After he called in experts, more than 5,000 coins, the remains of a feast of suckling pigs, ingots and the helmet’s ear guard were among

 the treasures discovered.
Coins from both the British Iron Age and the Roman Empire were found together for the first time*.
The helmet and its cheek pieces were restored from 1,000 fragments by experts at the British Museum and bought by Leicestershire County Council to go on display at  Harborough Museum, just nine miles from where it was buried 2,000 years ago.
Metals conservation expert Marilyn Hockey began unearthing the fragments ”out of a big lump of soil’‘ at the British Museum three years ago.
She said: ”Working our way down this enormous lump of clay, we discovered at the bottom some amazing finds … the Emperor cheek piece told us it was something really special.
”To get something straight out of the soil like this is like gold. You can find out so much from it.”
Jeremy Hill, head of research at the British Museum, said his ”mouth dropped” when he saw the object pieced back together.
He said that the helmet had helped ”change our understanding of what Britain was like just before the Roman conquest”.
He said: ”Every book on the Roman conquest of Britain is going to have a picture of that helmet in it now.”
”Just as we were starting to rethink the importance of East Midlands in the context of the Roman Empire, it says ‘bang, you’ve got to rethink it’, the same with the relationship between Romans and Britons.”
The helmet may also have been a diplomatic gift, to a pro-Roman population, or a spoil of war taken during a raid on a Roman camp or during battle.
Ken Wallace, 71, who first detected the treasure, and who was paid £300,000, divided with the landowner, said: ”When this ear (guard) came to the surface we knew it was going to be a Roman cavalry helmet … But what it would look like was anybody’s guess.
”It’s amazing, I never thought I would see it like that. I thought I’d get to see a computer-generated impression … I’ve been extremely lucky.”

Video clip

2,000 year old dog returns to guard treasure!

Other helmets:

 Crosby Garrett Helmet found in Britain sells for £2.3m
 Worrell, S. 2010. ‘The Crosby Garrett helmet’, Papers from the Institute of Archaeology, Volume 20
 The Ribchester helmet
 The Newstead helmet

*See Jonathan’s comment about the Lakenheath Hoard, which consisted of both Iron Age and Roman coins. The hoard was discovered on 23 November 1959 and bought through Treasure Trove from the landowner, Lady Grace Briscoe in 1960. Information and images of these and other coins, which are in the Fitzwilliam Museum Coins and Medals collection, are available on the OPAC Online Public Access Catalogue.
example:
Iron Age coins
Roman coin of Tiberius

The entries refer to: Briscoe et al. (1960) ‘An Icenian Coin Hoard from Lakenheath, Suffolk’, British Numismatic Journal, Volume 29: 215-19.
See also, Sealey, P. R. 2004. The Boudican Revolt (Shire Publication): 45 – referring to coin hoards.

2011 in review

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2011 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

The concert hall at the Sydney Opera House holds 2,700 people. This blog was viewed about 27,000 times in 2011. If it were a concert at Sydney Opera House, it would take about 10 sold-out performances for that many people to see it.

Click here to see the complete report.

Roman brothel token

The first notification about this find was from my roving reporter, Woodwose, but it’s captured the imagination of many and has been reported by many others.

 Roman brothel token discovered in Thames
Made from bronze and smaller than a ten pence piece, the coin depicts a man and a woman engaged in an intimate act.
Experts believe it is the first example of its kind to be found in Britain. It lay preserved in mud for almost 2,000 years until it was unearthed by an amateur archaeologist with a metal detector.
On the reverse of the token is the numeral XIIII, which historians say could indicate that the holder handed over 14 small Roman coins called asses to buy it. This would have been the equivalent of one day’s pay for a labourer in the first century AD.
The holder would then have taken the token to one of the many Londinium brothels and handed it to a sex slave in exchange for the act depicted on the coin.
The token was found by pastry chef Regis Cursan, 37, who made the discovery near Putney Bridge in West London.
He told the Daily Mail yesterday: “The day I made the find it was a very low, early tide and raining heavily. At first I thought it was a Roman coin, because of the thickness and diameter.
“When I rubbed the sand off the artefact the first thing I saw was the number on one side and what I thought was a goddess on the other. Little did I know at the time it was actually a rare Roman brothel token. To find something like that is a truly exciting find.”
The token has been donated to the Museum of London, where it will be on display for the next three months. Curator Caroline McDonald said: “This is the only one of its kind ever to be found in Great Britain.
“When we realised it was a saucy picture, we had a bit of a giggle but there’s also a sad story behind it because these prostitutes were slaves.
“It has resonance with modern-day London because people are still being sold into the sex trade.”
The object, dated to around the first century AD, was protected from corrosion by the mud. Similar tokens have been found elsewhere in the Roman Empire, but this is the first time one has been unearthed in the UK.
Some historians believe the Romans invented prostitution in the modern sense.
It played a significant part in the empire’s economy – with sex workers required to register with the local authorities and even pay tax.

Fishburn, G. 2007. ‘Is that a Spintria in you Pocket, or Are You Just Pleased to See Me?’, in P.E.Earl & B. Littleboy (eds.) , Regarding the Past: Proceedings of the 20th Conference of the History of Economic Thought Society of Australia, University of Queensland, 11 – 13 July 2007 (Brisbane): 225-236.

Galway skeleton with arrowhead

 Skeleton found of man killed by arrowhead 1,000 years ago

The shallow grave with the man’s body was discovered by a farmer during recent quarrying work near Newcastle village.
During further examination, the iron arrowhead which claimed his life was retrieved from inside his skull.
Traces of an underground passage dating from the ninth century have also been identified in the same section of quarry face in the townland of Tisaxon near Newcastle, according to archaeologist Martin Fitzpatrick of Arch Consultancy Ltd.
Mr Fitzpatrick’s team was called in after the find was reported to the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht. Archaeological work was co-funded by that department and the Department of the Environment.
Mr Fitzpatrick estimated the man was aged between 17 and 25, and may have been buried after a battle in this esker area. “The fact that he was lying east-west indicates that he was buried, and it is clear that he had already died of his injury,” he said.
The man was placed on his side in a crouched position. His feet are missing – possibly removed inadvertently during mechanical excavation or during slippage of the quarry face.
Osteoarchaeologist Caoimhe Tobin confirmed the head wound was inflicted by a small iron arrowhead of about four centimetres in length, and preliminary analysis suggests it dates back to the ninth or 10th century.
Mr Fitzpatrick said the passage was the “creep” of a souterrain or underground chamber used for refuge and storage – often associated with ring forts from the ninth century on.
“While there is no ring fort associated with this souterrain, the ecclesiastical site of Templemoyle lies to the immediate east,” he said.
Templemoyle has an early ecclesiastical enclosure, a well, church and cemetery.
Since 1952, burials have been uncovered during quarrying for sand and gravel in this locality. In 1979 a grave slab with the inscription “Oroit ar maelpoil” and a large bronze-coated iron hand bell dating between the seventh and ninth centuries were discovered.

Newport ship – ten years on

 Secrets of life on Newport’s medieval ship revealed

In the summer of 2002, thousands flocked to the banks of the River Usk in Newport (Casnewydd), to see a piece of history.
In the middle of a building site, the mud had been cleared to reveal the 500-year-old remains of a trading ship.
Built in 1447, it is the world’s best preserved example of a 15th Century vessel. Nearly ten years after it was uncovered, archaeologists are still making new discoveries about life on board.
They hope that in the next decade the ship will be rebuilt and put on display in its own museum.
Charles Ferris, from the Friends of the Newport Ship group, remembers the excitement as news of the discovery spread.
“It was amazing, it was absolutely palpable. I often think the Newport ship floats on a sea of goodwill,” he said.
“The Newport public did us proud and came out to support her in their thousands. People used to queue for two to three hours just to see her.”
The timbers were uncovered during work to build the  Riverfront Theatre and Arts Centre. After a  campaign to ensure it was preserved, the ship was moved timber by timber to an industrial unit nearby.
Around 2,000 oak timbers have been preserved in chemically-treated water tanks.
For almost 10 years, archaeologists have been carefully working through hundreds of boxes of  artefacts that were also salvaged from the mud.
Toby Jones, curator of the Newport medieval ship project, said: “We have literally thousands of things like shoes, coins, animal bones, fish bones, nuts, seeds, pollen.
“It’s all very interesting and can tell you so much about what life was like back in the medieval period.”
But it would be wrong to assume that by now, all of the ship’s secrets have been revealed. As the tenth anniversary of its discovery approaches in 2012, experts are still making new findings.
Mr Jones added: “A piece of rope was found during the excavation. It’s incredibly well preserved.
“It’s so well preserved we can tell its structure, how it’s made and the material it was made from, its overall size and how strong it would’ve been and, therefore, what it was used for in the ship.
“We only dug this out of the mud two weeks ago. This is what routinely shows up. Really nice examples that we didn’t even know we had.”
Items found include  a medieval shoe once considered the height of fashion
The industrial unit is more of a laboratory than a museum and so a study is now being carried out to find a suitable site, or building, to permanently display the ship.
The plan is to rebuild it, timber by timber, but space is an issue. When it was built, it would’ve been the length of three double-decker buses.
“Building the ship is actually going to take two to three years in itself,” said Mr Jones.
“We’re actually going to build the ship in the same order that they built the original ship in the medieval period. We’re going to learn just as much in that phase of the project as we’ve learned so far.
“When you go to see the ship in a museum in five or six years, rebuilt, you’re not going to need any imagination. It’s going to look like a ship and it’s going to blow you away.”

Wishing everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Silverdale Hoard

Silverdale Viking hoard declared treasure
An exciting discovery which has made history has been declared as treasure. Carnforth man Darren Webster, 39, found a viking hoard while ‘killing an hour or two’ by going metal detecting in Silverdale.
The collection of coins, ingots, jewellery and pieces of silver, included a coin bearing the inscription AIRDECONUT, which is thought to mean the Scandinavian name Harthacnut, a ruler not previously known. It was declared treasure by Lancashire deputy coroner Simon Jones at a hearing today (Friday 16th December 2011).

A preliminary valuation is expected in mid-January, and could be bought by  Lancaster City Museum, if enough funds can be raised.
Mr Webster has agreed to split the money 50-50 with the owner of the land where the treasure was found.

A selection of objects and coins from the Silverdale Hoard will be on display at the British Museum in Room 2, from Thursday 15 December through the New Year.

BBC News: In pictures

Udal sand dune multiperiod evidence

 New study of Western Isles’ sand dune-buried artefacts

New research is being carried out on artefacts recovered from a site where evidence was found for every age from the Neolithic to the 20th Century.
Archaeology at Udal provides an “unbroken timeline” of occupation from the Neolithic, Bronze Age, Iron Age, Viking, Medieval through to the 1900s.
Some of the evidence at the site on North Uist was preserved by wind-blown sand dunes.
Archaeologist Ian Crawford excavated Udal between 1963 and 1995.
The earliest Neolithic layers he revealed consisted of a line of stones with a large upright stone nicknamed the great auk stone because of its resemblance to the extinct seabird.We are one step closer to understanding what was discovered beneath the sand dunes”
Deborah Anderson Regional archaeologist
A deep shaft containing quartz pebbles which had been covered over with a whale’s vertebrae was also uncovered.
From the Bronze Age, finds included a skeleton and from the Iron Age evidence of metal work.
Also from the Iron Age were the remains of homes dubbed Jelly Baby houses because the shape of them looked like the sweets.
Evidence of a Viking longhouse and later occupation during the 1600s through to the 18th and 19th centuries were also found.
From the early 20th Century was a saw pit for cutting up wrecked boats.
Crawford’s collection is in the care of Western Isles local authority, Comhairle nan Eilean Siar.
The comhairle believes the site on the Grenitote peninsula to be one of the most important of its kind in the world.
It said the preservation of relics by being buried under sand was rare outside of the Middle East.
The comhairle has received £85,000 from the Museum Association’s Esmee Fairbairn Collections Fund to carry out the most complete post-excavation research to be done so far on the site and its finds.
Historic Scotland is assisting with the study.
Money from the grant will also be used to investigate the potential for an archaeological resource centre on  North Uist.
Evidence of Viking occupation included a longhouse
Councillor Archie Campbell said the £85,000 grant would help islanders and the comhairle achieve a vision.
He said: “The local community has been waiting nearly 50 years to learn about what was discovered beneath the sand dunes and to see the finds for themselves.
“Long before the material was released by Ian Crawford the community made it clear that their wish was for the collections to be returned to the islands on a permanent basis.
“This grant will go towards achieving that vision by funding a feasibility study into the potential of the Udal collections as the basis for an archaeological resource centre and the impact it would have on the islands’ economy.”
Deborah Anderson, regional archaeologist with the comhairle, welcomed the funding towards better understanding the collection.
She said: “This is an assemblage which is not just important to the Outer Hebrides but which is essential to help date other collections from the west coast of Scotland and Ireland.
“The local community will no doubt be thrilled that we have received this grant, and we are one step closer to understanding what was discovered beneath the sand dunes.”

Jane Austen ‘lost portrait’

 Jane Austen biographer discovers ‘lost portrait’

Jane Austen scholar  Dr Paula Byrne claims to have discovered a lost portrait of the author which, far from depicting a grumpy spinster, shows a writer at the height of her powers and a woman comfortable in her own skin.
The only accepted portraits of Austen to date are  her sister Cassandra’s 1810 sketch, in which she looks cross,

and an 1870 adaptation of that picture. But when Byrne, biographer of Evelyn Waugh and Mary “Perdita” Robinson and with an Austen biography due out in 2013, was given a portrait of a female author acquired by her husband, Shakespeare scholar Jonathan Bate, at auction, she was immediately struck by the possibility that it could be a lost drawing of Austen.
The portrait drawing, in graphite on vellum, had been in a private collection for years, and was being auctioned as an “imaginary portrait” of Austen, with “Miss Jane Austin” written on the back. “When my husband bought it he thought it was a reasonable portrait of a nice lady writer, but I instantly had a visceral reaction to it. I thought it looks like her family. I recognised the Austen nose, to be honest, I thought it was so striking, so familiar,” Byrne told the Guardian. “The idea that it was an imaginary portrait – that seemed to me to be a crazy theory. That genre doesn’t exist, and this looks too specific, too like the rest of her family, to have been drawn from imagination.”
Byrne pointed out that Austen did not become famous until 1870, 50 years after her death, and the portrait has been dated to the early 19th century, around 1815, on the basis of the subject’s clothes. “Why would someone have wanted to draw her from their imagination, when she was not popular at that time?” she asked.
She approached the BBC, and together they put together a documentary on the portrait, working with various experts including art historians, fashion experts and forensic analysts on the picture’s background. “We approached it with an open mind,” said Byrne. “We tried to cover all leads, and in the end we put our findings to three top Jane Austen scholars, and two out of three thought it was her.” The scholars were Professor Kathryn Sutherland from Oxford University, Professor Claudia Johnson from Princeton and Austen expert  Deirdre Le Faye. Sutherland and Johnson both agreed the picture was Austen; Le Faye did not. “She thinks it is an imaginary portrait. I did try so hard to find one single example of an imaginary portrait, but nobody could find one – they just don’t exist,” said Byrne. “But it’s great to have the debate – it opens up a very interesting question about who Jane Austen was and who we want her to be.”
If, as Byrne believes it is, the portrait is indeed Austen, then it shows a “very, very different” version of the writer than she has been seen as in the past, she said.
“The previous portrait is a very sentimentalised Victorian view of ‘Aunt Jane’, someone who played spillikins, who just lurked in the shadows with her scribbling. But it seems to me that it’s very clear from her letters that Jane Austen took great pride in her writing, that she was desperate to be taken seriously,” said Byrne. “This new picture first roots her in a London setting – by Westminster Abbey. And second, it presents her as a professional woman writer; there are pens on the table, a sheaf of paper. She seems to be a woman very confident in her own skin, very happy to be presented as a professional woman writer and a novelist, which does fly in the face of the cutesy, heritage spinster view.”
The documentary, Jane Austen: The Unseen Portrait?, is due to air on BBC2 on Boxing Day.

Forensic artist Melissa Little created this likeness of Jane Austen using contemporary descriptive accounts from Jane’s brothers, nephews and nieces. Melissa learned these techniques whilst working for police authorities in the UK and USA.

The Lewis Chessmen* – the debate continues….

….with a Norwegian counter argument to the Icelandic claim – by Morten Lilleøren: The Lewis Chessmen on a Fantasy Iceland.

*They are a collection of chess pieces, handcrafted in the 12th century from walrus tusks and whale teeth and discovered on the Isle of Lewis. The little figures were also the inspiration for Noggin the Nog.