A collection of glassware and high-status Roman pottery called Samian ware found off the coast of Ramsgate by a sea kayaker. Photograph: Historic England
Posted on 07/21/2019 10:15:34 AM PDT by SunkenCiv
Objects from a possible Roman shipwreck have been found off the coast of Kent in one of the most unusual archaeological finds in living memory.
The chance discoveries were made by a kayaker in the sea off Ramsgate. The tide was low enough and the water clear enough for him to reach down and pull out beautiful cobalt blue glassware and high-status Roman pottery, called Samian ware.
Mark Dunkley, a marine listing adviser with Historic England, said it was the sort of find which just did not happen in the UK. "It is the rarity of the material and the quality of the material that is really significant. In my experience this stuff just does not exist in an underwater context anywhere around Britain. It is a really significant find."
The discovery has raised the tantalising possibility of it coming from a Roman ship, wrecked close to the Kent coast.
Another possibility is that it could be from a Roman land site, which is now under water because of coastal erosion...
The discovery is particularly exciting because the area is so significant for the Roman invasion of Britain, said Dunkley. Julius Caesar landed in Ebbsfleet in 54BC and important forts were established at Richborough and Reculver.
They guarded the Wantsum Channel, a strait which separated the Isle of Thanet from the mainland until the middle ages and was used by the Romans as a thoroughfare to connect the English Channel with the Thames estuary.
(Excerpt) Read more at theguardian.com ...
A collection of glassware and high-status Roman pottery called Samian ware found off the coast of Ramsgate by a sea kayaker. Photograph: Historic England
Bump!
That’s mine, I dropped it while kayaking there- please return it- thanks!
Here are the other GGG topics introduced this week.
Drooling!
Well, at least they didn’t say from global warming.
#####
“Another possibility is that it could be from a Roman land site, which is now under water because of coastal erosion...”
Two Thousand year old
Cracked Pots!
The kids would use it
For Target Practice.
That's a nice piece of glassware.
Antiques I drool over are 19th century American made firearms. Followed by early 20th century American made firearms followed by WW2 American made firearms.
2000 Year old artifacts are cool. Like Roman gold coins.
I once had a huge collection of Cobalt Glass, but I lost it in a tragic boating accident along with my guns, ammo and gold. ;)
(I really DID have the Cobalt Glass; I sold it when I downsized my life. I kept ONE piece.)
Excellent find for this lucky stiff, though! :)
Hundreds of years before anyone ever talked about rising seas due to climate change the British coastline was being swallowed up. Entire ancient towns are in harbors that used to be dry land. Not sure who the scientists at the University of East Anglia blame for that.
Looks like a Spitoon!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Another possibility is that it could be from a Roman land site, which is now under water because of coastal erosion...
Have none of those Brit "Historians" ever heard of "Beach Glass"?
That blue glass vessel is in pristine condition. Had it experienced anything close to a millenium of shoreline erosion and wave action, it would have looked more like this:
~~~~~~~~~
Nearly always right -- but always opinionated... '-)
TXnMA
It was, and *that's* how rich the Romans were. ;^)
Jellybeans!
I Know’d It’,,,
Crunchy!
There’s an island at the mouth of Boston Harbor that was used as a dump for decades. Our schoolkids used to make trips there to collect “beach glass” — and that was only a century or two old...
Excellent point! :)
:^)
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
