Category Archives: Roman

VM_365 Day 239 Grave 5, Thorne Roman cemetery

Archaeology, From the Archives, Roman, Thorne, Uncategorised

VM 239The image for Day 239 of the VM_365 project shows Grave 5 from the Thorne Roman cemetery. This cremation burial, dating to the first century AD, was excavated along the Monkton Gas Pipeline route between 1983-4.

Four pottery vessels were deposited in the grave and include a large urn, which contained the cremated remains of a child under the age of 12 years old, and three smaller accessory vessels; a small urn, a dish and a flagon.

The urn containing the cremation was a large jar in native grog tempered pottery with rough tooled chevron decoration on the shoulders. The ring necked flagon, in a pink buff sandy fabric, was made in the Canterbury district and had a three ribbed strap handle. The small beaker and dish were both made of smooth grey ware similar to Upchurch Ware but probably made locally on the banks of the Wantsum Channel.

A cremation burial in a globular amphora from the smae cemetery has previously featured on Day 236 of the VM_365 project.

References

Perkins, D. R. J. 1985. The Monkton Gas Pipeline. Archaeologia Cantiana CII, 43-69.

VM_365 Day 236 Roman cemetery site, Thorne, near Cliffsend

Archaeology, Cliffsend, From the Archives, Roman, Roman pottery, Thorne, Uncategorised, VM_365 Project

VM 326

This archive image for Day  236 of the VM_365 project shows a Roman cremation burial under excavation on the Monkton Gas Pipeline in 1983.  A small  cemetery of nine graves including inhumations and cremations was found near Thorne Farm during the installation of the gas pipeline.

The image above shows Grave 6, a cremation contained in a large globular amphora (Dressel type 20). The upper edges of the vessel, including the handles and the rim, were missing; lost through plough damage or stripping the soil for the pipeline.  An adult and a young child were represented by the cremated bones. The bones of small rodents and amphibians , frogs or toads, were found in a soil deposit above the cremated bone.   These creatures had presumably been trapped in the hollow void above the cremation deposit in the vessel after its burial.

The location of cremation and inhumation cemeteries of Roman date can be seen on our map of Roman Thanet shown on Day 61.

 

VM_365 Day 230 Roman cremation burial from Minster, Thanet

Archaeology, From the Archives, In the Store, Minster, Roman, Roman pottery, Uncategorised, VM_365 Project

VM 230

Today’s image for Day 230 of VM_365 shows a Roman vessel which was found during grave digging at the modern cemetery at Tothill Street, Minster in the 1920’s.

This greyware  biconical urn with a carinated rim was found in association with three other vessels, presumably all from the same cremation group.  The group also included a carinated beaker in grey ware with black spots measuring approximatley 10 cm high, a grey ware bowl or platter about 18cm in diameter and a flagon in red fabric measuring approximatley 17.5 cm high. This cremation group dates to the late first to early second century AD.

The biconical urn contained fragments of burnt human bone representing the cremated remains of the individual buried in the pit.  The other vessels are likely to be ancillary vessels deposited in the grave pit alongside the urn, possibly containing food and other offerings for the afterlife.

These vessels were reported in the Antiquaries Journal in 1924 by Mr W. Whiting, an early Roman ceramics specialist who also later worked on the pottery from the early excavations at Richborough Roman Fort in the 1930’s.

VM_365 Day 218 Roman Painted Plaster from Broadstairs

Archaeology, Broadstairs, From the Archives, Roman, Uncategorised, VM_365 Project

VM 218

Today’s image for Day 218 of the VM_365 project shows a selection of the painted plaster fragments from the Roman building at Stone Road, Broadstairs which was excavated in 2004.

A total of 49 fragments of painted plaster were found in an extensive demolition deposit concentrated in the north west corner of the building, suggesting that the structure was a high status house.

Painted plaster in an extensive range of colours and styles has been excavated at the Villa site at Minster in Thanet,  with some of the fragments featuring in a series of previous VM_365 posts on Day 178, Day 182, Day 185, Day 188 and Day 191.

Although there are fewer fragments from Stone Road, and are generally much smaller than those at Minster,  they show a wide range of panel designs painted in hues of blue and green as well as  black. Some have suggestions of natural designs, with the third fragment from the left in the bottom row possibly representing a flower painted with blue pigment.

The excavated part of the building also contained a Bakers oven suggesting that the painted rooms were in another part of the range of buildings. Other artefacts recovered from the Stone Road Roman building  have featured as posts on VM_365, including part of a Roman spoon and a Military style belt buckle.

 

VM_365 Day 215 Roman military buckle from Broadstairs building

Archaeology, Broadstairs, Roman, Thanet archaeology, Uncategorised, VM_365 Project

VM 215

The  image for Day 125 is of a copper alloy object, found in the the excavation of a Roman building at Broadstairs.

On two sides of a square flat frame (top and bottom in the image) there are the remains of attachments  for a central panel of decorative openwork which is now missing. The X-Ray image on thetop right of the image shows the attachments in finer detail  A leather belt strap would have been hooked over the outer frame, under the patterned centre and over the frame again, creating a decorative adjustable buckle for the belt.

Although the connecting attachments of the openwork could not be matched exactly to any similar pieces, this style of  buckle has been found in military contexts  in Britain and across Europe.

Two variants of this sort of openwork buckle have been found at the Roman fort at Richborough, other published examples come from Dacia (modern Romania) and  Osterburken in Germany. An illustration of a similar buckle from the Fort of the Roman military unit Cohors I Breucorum from their base at Pfunz in southern Germany is shown for comparison with the Broadstairs find at the bottom right.

The question is what was this buckle doing in Broadstairs?

VM_365 Day 208 Three glass vessels from Margate with a tale to tell

Anglo Saxon, Archaeology, From the Archives, Margate, Roman, Uncategorised, VM_365 Project

VM 208

Today’s VM_365 image for Day 208 of the project shows three glass vessels which were part of the Rowe Bequest, a collection donated to the people of Margate by Dr Arthur Rowe.

In 1986, David Perkins, the first Director of the Trust for Thanet Archaeology, was involved in cataloguing the artefacts belonging to the Rowe Bequest which had been housed in the Old Margate Museum prior to the Second World War. A number of the artefacts in the Rowe Bequest were associated with the Anglo Saxon cemetery at Half Mile Ride, Margate. Using  Rowe’s notes and modern archaeological research, Perkins was able to publish a reappraisal of the cemetery in the county journal.

While cataloguing the items, Dave Perkins identified the three glass vessels, pictured above, which had been packed along with the artefacts from the Half Mile Ride collection but were not been mentioned in the museum records.

The first of the vessels (on the left) is a green glass Base Cup dating to around the 7th century. A stand obscures the pointed base of the vessel in the photograph; it was originally manufactured so that the contents of the vessel had to be fully consumed before it could be put down on its rim. Perkins confirmed that the Base Cup was from one of the graves of the Half Mile Ride cemetery.

Despite being from two seperate vessels of different dates, the two other fragments shown in the centre and on the right, had been reconstructed incorrectly to form a ‘single’ vessel and had been described in the old catalogue as Roman, suggesting they were probably from the Twenties Brickfield approximatley 300 metres to the north west of the Half Mile Ride graves. Dave Perkins was able to show that this catalogue entry was not right.

The body and base on the right are from the lower part of a flask of thick blue green glass dating to the Roman period. The rim and neck in the centre are actually from a clear glass pouch bottle with glass thread decoration around the neck,  actually of Anglo Saxon date. The pouch bottle also dates to around the 7th century. Perkins was able to confirm that it also came from the Half Mile Ride cemetery.

References

Perkins, D. R. J. 2000. Jutish Glass Production in Kent: And the Problem of the Base Cups. Archaeologia Cantiana CXX, 297-310.

Perkins, D. R. J. 1987. The Jutish Cemetery at Half Mile Ride, Margate: A Re-appraisal. Archaeologia Cantiana CIV, 219-236.

 

VM_365 Day 195 Another reconstructed Jar from the Roman Kitchen at Broadstairs

Archaeology, Broadstairs, Roman, Roman pottery, Thanet archaeology, Uncategorised, VM_365 Project

VM_195

The image for Day 195 is of another vessel from the Roman Kitchen found in the remains of a Roman building excavated at Broadstairs, a Knife-trimmed necked-jar in a grey-black Native Coarse Ware with grog and sand filler. The diameter around the exterior of the rim is 240 mm. and the surface is fired grey with patchy black and pink surfaces. This particular style of vessel can be dated to around 170-250 AD.

One hundred and twenty fresh sherds from the vessel were recovered from the thick deposit of pottery, making up nearly three quarters of this pot. Previous VM_365 posts have shown how vessels from the thick layer of pottery in one context have been reconstructed and this is the last of large jars that has been carefully pieced together by one of the Trust’s volunteers.

Like many of the other pots recovered from this deposit, the vessel appears to have been deliberately destroyed. A series of holes has been punched along the widest part of the body, as if the pot was systematically pierced with a thin rod or blade. Reconstructing the vessels has shown this pattern of holes punched with  sharp object to be preserved in the distribution of sherd breaks in several of the larger pots and a moratorium recovered from the deposit.

 

VM_365 Day 191 Candelabra design Roman Painted Plaster

Archaeology, Minster, Roman, Uncategorised, VM_365 Project

VM 188

The image for Day 191 of the VM_365 project shows another example of a fragment of painted plaster from the Roman villa at Minster. Other examples of fragments of painted plaster have been featured on Day 178, Day 182 , Day 185 and Day 188.

This fragment shows part of an elaborate candelabra type design painted in yellows and white against the smooth red background, a darker red outline can just be seen on the left hand side of the motif. The greenish blue paint on the right hand side may represent part of a border or alternativley may be part of a foliage design. Candelabra designs are well known in the Roman world and examples of similar themed designs have been found at Verulamium and London.

VM_365 Day 190 Roman baby feeding bottle spout

Archaeology, Roman, Roman pottery, St Nicholas, Thanet, Thanet archaeology, Uncategorised, VM_365 Project

VM 190

The image for VM_365 Day 190 shows two views of a small ceramic object, found in an excavation at St. Nicholas in Thanet, which has an interesting and perhaps unexpected origin.
The image on the right  shows that the object is hollow, so likely to be some form of spout. At the bottom right of the flat end are four little ceramic pins, that were used to key the spout on to the body of a vessel .
The object can be identified from other examples as a spout from a baby feeding bottle, dating to the Mid Roman period, probably the later second century AD.  Baby feeding bottles of many different shapes and forms are known from many periods in history. The spout would have been be attached to a small round-bodied pot, which was comfortable hold in the palm and fingers, probably with a flat base to allow it to put down to stand without spilling the contents.
This object is perhaps one of the most interesting examples of the way that humans have created objects to supplement or even replace natural processes. In this case the object may have been used in circumstances where perhaps natural feeding was not possible, extending the potential of a baby to survive and grow.
The pottery fabric  suggests that the vessel may have been made by Romanised indigenous people, rather than by Roman Gauls or even Romans from Italy.  Perhaps the pre-Roman people had their own ways to feed babies, but in this case they seem to have adopted Romanised version of the baby feeder.

VM_365 Day 188 More painted plaster from Minster – Artist(s) unknown

Archaeology, Minster, Roman, Uncategorised, VM_365 Project

VM 365 191

For Day 188 of the VM_365 project the image shows another fragment of the painted plaster from Minster. This time showing a delicate yellow painted swag painted overpainted on a dark blue grey background. The centre of the swag is filled with a lighter  blue grey pigment. An abstract leaf is  picked out in green paint under the end of one of the finer swags, which are probably meant to suggest the stems of a plant.

Perhaps we should pause to consider the artist who painted these freehand patterns. Each of the patterns is painted using a ‘fresco’ type of technique where the paints are bonded into a fine layer of plaster skim over the thick coat that covered the walls below. These thin plaster layers and all the patterns would have had to have been applied and painted in a single process, perhaps in sections over the space of a whole room, and then over the extensive area of the villa.

Although to our eyes the painting can sometimes appear gaudy, there are sections of delicate painting that indicate skill and control of pigments and drawing. Perhaps there was a team of painters with some delegated to covering large areas of ground with colour washes, borders and easily produced geometric patterns and borders.  Perhaps only a master-painter would have been trusted to produce the finer free hand elements and the figurative work that lifted the panels into a higher artistic plane.

In later centuries the master painters of Fresco painting have become household names, yet the paintings and painters who contributed to the Minster Villa, although perhaps equally skilled, are largely forgotten.