Another full month back with fewer restrictions on meeting finders has meant more finds being recorded, but just three this week and all Roman! First up is a copper-alloy Roman harness pendant. The pendant is of Bishop Type 1L. The top of the pendant has a complete, solid integral loop. These 1st century harness pendants aren’t …more
Category: Roman
Finds of the Month – June 2021
First full month of finds surgeries back and there have been some interesting new additions to the PAS database in Berkshire. First of is our little Saxon fella; the Early-Medieval copper-alloy Anglo-Saxon gesture figurine. It fits within a small (but slowly growing) repertoire of 7th century 3-dimensional figurines from south and east England, mainly along the …more
Museum Musings May 2021 – Same Again Samian
Samian ware is one of the most common finds on Roman sites, but on the PAS it is fairly uncommon. This is largely because it is ceramic and not picked up by a metal detector. Samian was produced in several areas of modern day France and Germany. Based forms, makers stamps and decoration it can …more
Finds of the Month – April 2021
After a couple of weeks away from the blog I’m back with finds of the month. The good news is that I’ll be able to see these shortly as I will be meeting finders from the end of May. There were few finds in this month but that is because I am preparing to see …more
Finds of the Month – March 2021
Still working through lockdown and receiving objects through email, but that hasn’t stopped some rather interesting finds coming in. Most recently is this copper-alloy Roman object. I say object because at around 40mm it is too big to be a sestersius. The portrait appears to be Antonine in date and could be of Faustina, the …more
You Wear It Well – Roman Crossbow Brooches
Recently I posted a picture of the sole Roman crossbow brooch from Berkshire, found in the parish of Welford, on Instagram and asked people “Which way up is correct?” The results of this were about 50/50. The traditional way to show a crossbow brooch on images is with the axis bar, what we call the …more
Sweet Child O’ Mine – Roman Putti Figurines
Late last year I tweeted a Roman putto (child) figurine that was brought in for recording. The statue is in the form of a chubby and naked winged boy, a putto, seated with his arm outstretched and bent at the elbows. His right hand is broken and his left arm is holding a ball. The boy’s …more
Finds of the Month – February 2021
It was getting to the point recently that I didn’t think I would have much for Finds of the Month. However, very recently some rather interesting things landed in my inbox which I’ll be seeing once museums reopen. The first is, what would have been in its day, a very decorative Millefiori stud, dated to …more
Keep it secret, keep it safe – Roman seal boxes
One of my favourite Roman objects is seal boxes. Colin Andrews (2012) research demonstrated that these boxes were more likely to seal up bags rather than writing tablets, as was previously thought. There are a couple of examples from Berkshire. The first is the top of a lozenge shaped box. The top is decorated with …more
Finds of the Month – January 2021
With the current lockdown restrictions metal detecting hasn’t been allowed this month. However, I have still been receiving finds from pre-lockdown and here are a few I have recorded this month. First up is the featured find from last week. A Silver-plated contemporary copy of a denarius of Septimius Severus (AD193 – 211). There was …more
