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]

"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."

I saw an interesting story on one of the documentary channels about one of The Roosevelts had lost a ring on the beach in Hawaii...50 years later, someone found it.

[msdrby]

Just curious, did you read the whole thing or just the first part about the names of the four forts? You could have called this "genealogy ping."

[Slicksadick]

Great picture Blam. He looks like Max Von Sydow.

[blam]

Yup. I see the resemblence

[blam]

Read this story of Cheddar Man. How would you like to discover a 9,000 year old relative?

Cheddar Man

[wideminded]

There was another wall between Britain and Saxony, which are now known as Wales and England.

Is that the same as Offa's Dyke?

[RightWhale]

Yes, there have been several walls in the same general area. The Romans built them to keep those wild Britons out. They would come into the Roman towns and drink watery ale and read poetry in a more or less uncontrolled manner.

[SunkenCiv]

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[CWOJackson]

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

An early associate of Clan Clinton?

[SunkenCiv]

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