Roman Souvenir Of (Hadrian's) Wall Found

BBC ^ | 9-30-2003

[blam]

Roman souvenir of wall found

The bronze pan has the names of Roman forts on it

A unique Roman "souvenir" of the building of Hadrian's Wall has been discovered. The bronze pan, dating from the second century AD, when the Romans built the dividing wall across the north of England, was found in the Staffordshire moorlands.

Archaeologists are excited because the names of four forts located at the western end of Hadrian's Wall - Bowes, Drumburgh, Stanwix and Castlesteads - are engraved on the vessel.

The discovery was being made public at the Institute of Archaeology in London by the Portable Antiquities Scheme (PAS), an organisation which records archaeological objects found by members of the public.

Until the discovery of this pan, only two other examples were known with inscriptions naming forts on Hadrian's Wall - the Rudge Cup, discovered in Wiltshire in 1725, and the Amiens Patera, found in Amiens in France in 1949.

Between them they name seven forts, but the present pan is the first to include Drumburgh. It also has the inscription of a person's name on it.

The wall runs from the west of Cumbria to Wallsend

Sally Worrell, Roman expert for the PAS, said the name, Aelius Draco, was "perhaps a veteran of a garrison of Hadrian's Wall", who had the vessel made on retirement.

She said: "This is an absolutely wonderful find - the most important Roman object recorded with the Portable Antiquities Scheme."

Elaborately decorated with Celtic-style motifs, the vessel is inlaid with coloured enamel.

It is hoped the find will go on display at the British Museum as part of a special exhibition opening in November, called Buried Treasure: Finding Our Past.

Earlier this year a coast-to-coast walk route was launched, which opened up the entire length of the wall to walkers for the first time in 1,600 years.

Thousands of people have taken advantage of the 84-mile walk from Wallsend on Tyneside to Bowness in Cumbria, since it was opened to the public in May.

[blam]

What is the name of the other wall that is further north?

[blam]

Hadrian's Wall

[LibWhacker]

The Antonine Wall in Scotland. (Thank you, Google!) :-)

[Sacajaweau]

cool

[dirtboy]

The Antonine Wall...

[agitator]

ancient ping

[RightWhale]

There was another wall between Britain and Saxony, which are now known as Wales and England. The great adventures of Arthur took place over a relatively small area of north Wales, west of the wall and in the vicinity of the wall. The overseas adventures in France were actually in what is England now.

[Prof Engineer]

history ping

[RoughDobermann]

Had to keep those bloody Scots out, what what?

[LibWhacker]

. . . was found in the Staffordshire moorlands . . .

Lots of interesting things seem to be very well-preserved in Britain's moors. Can't wait for them to sweep the whole lot of them with ground penetrating radar.

[Molly Pitcher]

Thanks for posting these archeological stories!

[blam]

I like the Bog People, here is Tollund Man.(2,000 years old with a rope around his neck)

[Sacajaweau]

You got it. Some exciting finds with GPR.

Have been having a blast with my 8 yr old granddaughter and a metal detector (Not one for precious metals). We found 5 horseshoes in about 10 minutes. Finding horseshoes with a grandaughter is better than finding gold...but we have 100 acres...so who knows...maybe a chest will turn up!!

[LibWhacker]

Wow, that's the best picture of him I've seen. Amazing preservation. You can see every wrinkle. You can see his whiskers . . . His eyelids are perfect. It's like there was no decompostion whatsoever in 2,000 years.

[LibWhacker]

Metal detectors are lots of fun, and the stuff you dig up can be very interesting.

When one of my best friends bought his first detector he went out with his steel-toed boots on. Within a few minutes he had found his foot. We all got a big laugh out of that.

[Sacajaweau]

I owned steel toes, too. It takes a few minutes to catch on that you're an idiot. I get a kick out of my granddaughter. As soon as I turn it on, she makes sure the shovel is out of the way.

[blam]

I won't tell you what happend with my iron coke can sitting by the compass on a 10,000 ton freighter I was driving years ago. (Oops!)

[LibWhacker]

LOL . . . Have you found any rings for her yet? When it came to valuable things, I found more rings than anything else. It's amazing how many are out there.

Be nice to get a new detector. My old one is kaput.

[LibWhacker]

LOL . . . OMG, I hope all ended well and you didn't take down any bridges, blam!

[VOA]

bump...