Posted on 07/24/2019 11:38:56 AM PDT by Red Badger
The fragment above an artist’s impression of how the fish bottle would have looked. Credit: National Trust/Rod Kirkpatrick/F Stop Press
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Peter Moore discovered a fragment from a 1,800 year-old glass fish at the National Trust's Chedworth Roman Villa in Gloucestershire.
The shard of intricately decorated glass is so rare it took experts from around the world two years to identify it.
Wealth and influence
Peter discovered the fragment while part of a team carrying out a dig to understand more about the north wing of the villa. The glass fish may have been used to hold exotic perfume and was unearthed thousands of miles away from where it was made—in an area around the Black Sea in what is now Ukraine.
Nothing like it has ever been found in Britain and the discovery sheds new light on the wealth and influence of the ex-inhabitants of Chedworth.
Peter, from the Department of Archaeology, said: "When it appeared, the first wipe of the surface showed the color and it quickly became apparent it was something special.
"Excavating anything at Chedworth and knowing that you are the first person to gaze upon it for at least 1,800 years is a feeling that never tires, the memory of recovering this piece of glass certainly will not."
Mystery
The glass piece was found in the summer of 2017 but had to be sent to a leading Roman glass expert, the late Professor Jennifer Price, who sought advice from other experts to solve the mystery of where it came from.
It was eventually found to match a fish shaped bottle that had been restored from many pieces, which is housed in the Corning Museum of Glass, New York.
By comparing the two samples, Prof Price concluded the piece came from near the tail of the glass fish.
The only other example of such a fish-shaped Roman bottle comes from a 2nd century burial in Crimea.
The Chedworth bottle has been made with an unusual technique, with the decoration laid on top of the blue-green surface to create scales in loops of white and yellow, and it is likely the fish's open mouth formed the opening of the small vessel.
Nancy Grace, the National Trust archaeologist who led the work to investigate the find, said: "People have been enchanted by it, but it has also been a long and difficult journey.
"To have found that it is the only one of its type so far discovered in Roman Britain adds to our knowledge of the importance of Chedworth Roman Villa.
"Other objects found at the villa show it was home to somebody of wealth and status.
"That such an exotic thing was brought from so far away underlines that the occupants were in touch with the furthest regions of the Roman Empire and wanted to show off that influence. It is amazing that a small fragment has told us so much."
“It is amazing that a small fragment has told us so much.”
In many other contexts (coughEvolutioncough), this would be proof that the evaluator is desperately trying to establish a link...great story, though.
I’m always amazed that when a paleontologist finds a scrap of jawbone they can immediately tell us how tall they were, how much they weighed, what they ate and how much and if they were a victim of climate change.....................
It’s great that an archaeology student found it and saved it.
It is beautiful
Methinks this may be in the same category as from the movie The Gods Must Be Crazy: “There’s no boron in this elephant feces. “
Perfume? I’d guess Garum, Roman fermented fish sauce made from anything left after the meat was gone, which (to quote the ads for Frank’s Hot Sauce) “they put that s*** on everything”. There’s a similar condiment popular in SE Asia that was suggested I add to a dish once. I sniffed the bottle and declined the offer. Smelled like vomit. But hey, if the French can enjoy rancid, runny cheese who are we to criticize?
It was eventually found to match a fish shaped bottle that had been restored from many pieces, which is housed in the Corning Museum of Glass, New York.
...
So is this piece from the bottle in the museum or is it from a different but similar bottle?
“I’m always amazed that when a paleontologist finds a scrap of jawbone they can immediately tell us how tall they were, how much they weighed, what they ate and how much and if they were a victim of climate change.....................”
But we can’t figure out what Genius de Milo was doing with her arms.
My guess is she was pouring water from a vessel, a common pose.....................
Different but similar................
Amazing.
I’ve enjoyed a number of Asian foods that supposedly make most Caucasians run for bushes to upchuck (durian fruit, for example) but I met my match with that Singaporean fish sauce and Filipino style fish soup.
I’ll eat anything once, twice if it doesn’t kill me....................
Different.
Bottom line, the fish bottles were mass produced.
Fish sauce is goooooood.
My loving wife doesn’t like it, but she likes the principle of umami and I tell her “honey, when you want more umami or you tell me that the dish doesn’t have enough Umami guess what I use?”
My darling has taken in more fish sauce and she will never need to know.
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