New finds from Roman bathhouse near Hadrian’s wall in Carlisle, England, are being discovered.
Two head statues of Roman gods are among the artifacts discovered by archaeologists in the Roman bathhouse during six weeks of excavations at Carlisle Cricket Club. One of the statue heads unearthed in the northern cathedral city may represent Fortuna, the Roman goddess of luck. Another possibility is that the heads, one female and one male, may represent Septimius Severus and his wife Julia Domna.
The glue holding the 2000 year old stones in place would have been compromised by the steam from the baths, and some of the gems, including amethyst, would have fallen out of rings. The sandstone artifacts may date back to the year 200 AD.
According to a BBC, the tiny intaglios, or engraved jewels, were flushed down the drains when the pools and saunas were cleaned. They are barely a few millimeters in diameter.
“The finds at the bathhouse have reinforced how high status the building once was, amazing bits of sculpture and architectural features.” said Frank Giecco, technical director at environmental consultancy Wardell Armstrong.
“We get wow finds every day. The level of interest has been utterly fantastic. It’s been everything from local, to national, to international and as ever we’re all just blown away by the kindness, enthusiasm, and generosity of the team on site, the project partners, local people, and the volunteers who are helping to make this possible.”
The excavation is being done with local firm R H Irving Construction, which is providing the machinery on site for free, and will allow more volunteers to take part when the excavation is expanded.
The excavation uncovered important finds and it’s great to hear that they were unearthed by volunteers. We can’t wait to see what else is found. Thank you to all the team involved in the excavation, including the hundreds of volunteers who signed up to help.