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A workshop,
which may have produced armoury for cavalry escorts of the emperor Hadrian has been
unearthed by archaeologists, in the most significant find for 50 years. Weapons, siege
equipment and some of the best-preserved armour ever discovered are among hundreds of
finds which will go on public display next year. Waterlogged ground on the site of the
dig, by the main east-west street in Roman Carlisle, contained preserved leather bindings
and complex iron scales joined by bronze wire which are thought to have protected
cavalrymen's shoulders.
"We
believe this is a unique discovery from anywhere in the Roman world," said Thom
Richardson, keeper of Oriental and European armour at the Royal Armouries. "It has
the potential to solve the puzzle of how such armour worked," he said.
The scale of
the finds, which also include extremely rare sets of armour for arms and legs, was
revealed when clods of rock-like, congealed mud and metal were taken for x-ray checks at
the Armouries in Leeds.
To the delight
of the dig team, scans revealed the ghostly shape of the armour sections, plus brighter
twists of wire, hidden inside. "Basically, they look like lumps of gunk at the
moment, but we should have something really spectacular to show the world when
conservation is finished," said Mr Richardson.
The finds,
discovered during a rescue dig on the site of Carlisle's new Millennium Gallery by the
former Roman fort of Luguvallium, are thought to be rejects and scrap which accumulated
under the armourers' workbenches. Mr Richardson said: "It looks as though we've got
years of the sort of stuff engineers and craftsmen put to one side or throw away - bits of
this and that which all help to build our picture of how the Roman army was
equipped."
Mike McCarthy,
head of Carlisle Archaeology (a commercial offshoot of Bradford university, which carried
out the dig) said: "It's been a wonderful discovery, one of the most important yet
from Roman Britain.."
The discovery
is the biggest since large scale excavations in Corbridge in Northumberland, where
material unearthed in 1964 changed historians' views of the Roman defensive system. (The
Guardian 26th April 2001)
Excavation
Opportunity
June last year
Dr Robert Philpot gave the society a talk on recent excavations in the south-west
Lancashire area. This included work carried out by the Liverpool Museum on the Southport
plain near Ormskirk. Further excavations are
planned this year as part of a structured training programme, which will allow students to
work along side the professionals.
The site
itself was discovered in late 1998 by Steve Baldwin of the Lathom and District Historic
Society on land affected by a gas pipeline on Buttons Farm, near Lathom. This is the same
Transco pipeline which has recently been winding its way round the outskirts of Wigan on
its way to the terminus at Warrington. The finds from the Lathom site suggest a
potentially important Romano-British presence in the immediate vicinity.
Work,
conducted in the adjoining 7ha of the undisturbed field, involved a field-walking survey,
a geophysical survey and excavations over two seasons. The field-walking survey produced a
thin distribution of struck flint, probably of early prehistoric date. There was also a
relatively large amount of Romano-British pottery and four concentrations of late medieval
pottery, mostly adjacent to the modern road.
A hollow-way
or track that may have been part of an early field system, which was back-filled during
the 2nd or 3rd century AD was also located. Finds
from the backfilling of the trackway suggest an important Romanised building lay in the
vicinity. It is, however, only one of five
linear features, some of which are quite large, all meeting in this area. A large enough area has yet to be excavated
to make it clear whether they are field boundaries, or trackways, or whether they are all
of the same date.
150 metres to
the east, a roundhouse was located, 10.5 metres in diameter with opposing entrances. Underlying this building was a four-post
structure. On both sides of the house are
areas of pits that are probably contemporary. Finds
are few, but a rim shard from one of the gully terminals of the house has been sent for
specialist analysis along with a handful of other potentially late prehistoric shards from
the house.
Work will
continue in 2001 with training courses run through the 4 weeks of June, 9.15 am to 5.00 pm, Monday to Friday. If you are
interested in joining the training excavation, please contact:
Mrs Leslie
Crombie
Centre for Continuing Education
University of Liverpool
19 Abercromby Square
Liverpool, L69 7ZG
Tel: 0151 794 2550/6900
Trips
Tom is still
developing plans for our Angers trip in September. In the mean time suggestions are
invited for our annual coach trip in August.
Next Meeting
Wednesday 2nd
May at the BP Centre (Scout HQ) in Greenough Street, at 7.30 pm as usual. This month's speaker is Dr Tim Strickland who will
be giving us his talk (deferred from last November) on 'Roman Influence in Armenia'.
Hope to see you at the meeting -B.A
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