Category Archives: In the Store

VM_365 Day 281 Roman Spoon-Probe

VM 281The image for Day 281 of the VM_365 project shows a copper alloy cast Roman Spoon-Probe  found during the 1999 excavation season of the Roman villa at Minster.
This alarmingly named object would originally have been double ended, with a spoon at one end and a probe at the other. The spoon end of this example has broken off. The shaft of the instrument has been cast with barley sugar twisting.
These instruments were multi-purpose, the spoon end would have been used to extract cosmetics from containers and the probe end used to apply them to the face, possibly also to mix them too. The probe could have been used rather like a cotton wool bud if wrapped in wool or cloth to remove the cosmetics from the face. These instruments were also used medically for the application of medicines to the ears and eyes as well as being used to excise and clean wounds.

VM_365 Day 279 Anglo Saxon Bronze Object

VM 279Today’s image for Day 279 of the VM_365 project is of a copper alloy object that was excavated during evaluations at Ebbsfleet, Thanet in 1990.

Made of copper alloy or bronze in a mould, the object has broken above the rounded tip and would originally have had two projections on the underside – one now broken. The surviving projection originally had a hole pierced through it, which would have been mirrored by the one on the other side. This hole has been filled by the remains of a bronze rivet which was used to fasten something between the two projections.

A similar object was excavated from grave 116 at the Anglo Saxon cemetery at Buckland, Dover. The Buckland object is more complete than our example and included a hanging loop at the top which connected to a bronze girdle hanger by a thick wire loop. Evison suggests that bronze rivets would have fastened the peg-like projections to a wooden shaft which could have been anything from a weaving implement to a holder for a hone stone.

Reference

Evison, V. I. 1987. Dover: Buckland Anglo Saxon Cemetery. HBMC Archaeological Report no. 3. pp 117, 242 & 320.

VM_365 Day 276 Recycled pottery spindle whorl

VM 276

Today’s image for Day 276 of the VM_365 project shows two sides of a ceramic spindle whorl that was found during excavations at Minster, Thanet in 1990.

This Roman spindle whorl  has been recycled from a sherd of a flagon dating to the second half of the 1st century A.D. The pottery sherd has been carefully shaped into a disc and a hole pierced through the centre. The disc is slightly curved, rather than flat, following the  original profile of the flagon. In the picture on the left, marks left from turning the flagon on a potters wheel can clearly be seen as stripes in the fabric.

Other objects associated with weaving including spindle whorls of Iron Age and Late Iron Age/Early Roman date, as well as Iron Age loom weights and an Iron Age weaving comb have previously featured in the VM_365 project

 

VM_365 Day 275 Amber beads

VM 275Today’s image for Day 275 of the VM_365 project shows four amber beads found in Grave 32 of the Monkton Anglo Saxon cemetery, part of which, was excavated in 1982.

The 6th century grave, was orientated east west and had been heavily truncated measuring only 0.14 metres deep. It contained only the fragmentary skeletal remains of the long bones of the leg and a single tooth to indicate the presence of the individual who had been buried there.

The beads are a mixture of roughly shaped pieces of amber that have been pierced through their length (far left) and carefully carved cylindrical shaped beads that have been broken on one end. The bead on the far right is a fragment that has broken through the centre. The holes through the centre of the beads can be seen on all four  if you look carefully.

Amber is fossilised tree resin and Anglo Saxon amber beads are assumed to have been imported from the shores of the Baltic where large deposits are well known. However deposits of amber are also known along the east coast of England and it cannot be assumed that all of the amber beads found in Anglo Saxon graves are from the Baltic shores; they may have been traded down the East Coast of Britain. It is not unknown for pieces of amber to be washed up on the beaches of Thanet.

VM_365 Day 268 Anglo Saxon Amethyst beads

VM 268

Today’s image for Day 268 of the VM_365 project shows four amethyst beads excavated in 1982 from a grave containing a female buried at the Monkton Anglo Saxon cemetery.

These four roughly almond shaped amethyst beads were found as part of a necklet along with two shell beads probably cut from a cowrie shell.  The beads formed part of an early 7th century burial and are imports from Byzantium having been traded along the route from Aquelia, over the Alps, down the Rhine and then on to Kent.

If you look carefully at these beautifully translucent beads you can see the finely drilled holes, which show opaque, through which fine cord was passed to string them into a necklet. If you look very closely you can even identify the spirals caused by the rotation of the drilling implement.

Graves from the Monkton cemetery were first identified during the laying of a gas pipeline in 1971 when 22 were identified.  A further 12 graves were identified during the laying of a second pipeline in 1982.

 

VM_365 Day 256 Colour Coated Roman Beaker from Ramsgate Roman Grave

 

VM 256The image for Day 256 0f the VM_365 project is of a Roman Beaker found in a grave excavated in Ramsgate, which has featured in a series of previous VM_365 posts, along with the finds that were present in the grave and evidence for the hob nailed shoes the individual was buried with.

The beaker is in a colour coated ware, which means that the light coloured fabric of the pottery has been totally covered with a slip of dark glaze. The exterior of the pot was decorated further buy adding a white painted lattice pattern. The beaker was possibly manufactured in Gaul, in 3rd or 4th century AD.

Perhaps a story of greater human interest represented by this vessel are the impressions of the fingers of someone who grasped the body of the vessel before the clay had dried and left a lasting memorial of their otherwise unrecorded existence.

The survival of the intact vessels on the small archaeological site, despite the demolition of the buildings above and the use of a large toothed mechanical excavator bucket to grub out the foundations of the building that stood above it, is a matter of incredible luck.

VM_365 Day 255 Roman Hobnails in a grave from Ramsgate

VM 255

Today’s image for Day 255 of the VM_365 project follows on from yesterday’s journal post about the late 3rd to early 4th century burial at Ramsgate. It shows one of the best preserved of the 29 hobnails excavated from the grave along with a location plan of where they were found.

It is not clear  if all the hobnails survived and, as the grave had been heavily disturbed by plant roots, it was not possible to determine the exact pattern of hobnails. Two groups of hobnails were identified presumably representing two seperate shoes which may have been worn by the young adult female when she was buried.

Hobnails were used to prolong the life of footwear which was usually made entirely of leather and to give them a better grip on the floor surface.

VM_365 Day 253 Roman Copper Alloy bracelet

VM 253Today’s image for Day 253 of the VM_365 project shows a Roman copper alloy bracelet found within the 3rd to 4th century grave of a young adult female at Grange Road, Ramsgate in 2007. The complete pennanular bracelet is shown in situ in an image for Day 58 of VM_365.

The bracelet measures approximately 75mm in diameter and is made from four strands of wire twisted tightly together to form a single length. The diameter of the twisted wire measures approximately 4mm with each strand measuring 1mm. The ends of the bracelet fasten together in a hook and loop with the hooked end formed from a single strand of the wire reinforced with a flattened copper alloy strip clamped it to prevent unravelling. The looped  end of the bracelet is formed in a similar way but with a single strand of wire bent over on itself and clamped with a strip of metal. The wire forming the looped end of the fastening had been beaten flat.

When it was originally deposited at the foot end of the grave, the bracelet would have been beautifully shiny and almost the colour of gold although now it has become corroded over time and is coloured green.

VM_365 Day 230 Roman cremation burial from Minster, Thanet

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 224 Comb decorated Late Iron Age vessel from Margate

VM 224

The VM_365 post for Day 224 is of the reconstructed upper body of a comb decorated Late Iron Age vessel, found in an excavation at Hartsdown, Margate.

The post for Day 223 showed how a new trend for comb decoration on vessels made of fabric tempered with grog emerged in the Late Iron Age and continued into the Roman period. Typical vessels of the new ‘Belgic’ style pottery were cooking and storage vessels like the bead rim jars shown in yesterdays post and the reconstructed jar shown today.

The jar rim is everted, a term that describes a curved or straight rim that leans outward from the upper edge of the vessel. The  vessel has been decorated with three shallow horizontal grooves at the upper shoulder, which create the impression of  raised beads. The rim and upper body are burnished to a low sheen and the lower part of the body is decorated all over with oblique curved stripes, formed with a narrow toothed comb.

Close examination of vessels of this type help to reconstruct the range of potting techniques and decorative schemes that were introduced in the Late Iron Age.