2023 Author: Bryan Walter | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-05-21 22:24
Found in a burial place a bronze jug
In North Hertfordshire, a private burial has been discovered dating back to the late 2nd century AD. Details are reported by the resource LiveScience.
The burial was discovered by an enthusiast, Phil Kirk, who examined the field with a metal detector. Earlier, at the same place, he found a Roman coin and, after a while, decided to continue searching. Among the objects found in the burial were two coins, bronze vessels, a brooch, an iron lamp, and a bronze patera (libation bowl). They also found mosaic plates and bottles of various shapes: octagonal, hexagonal, rectangular and square. In one of them, human ashes were found. It was his presence that made it possible to establish that the finds belong to the burial. Nails were also found here, with which they knocked out leather sandals. “His best sandals were placed in Roman graves with the deceased, because they would carry him through the underworld to the River Styx,” explains Keith Fitzpatrick-Matthews, Archaeological Surveyor of North Hertfordshire.
Kelsall, North Hertfordshire, UK
It was possible to date the burials using the bronze coins found here: one of them, apparently, was supposed to serve as a payment to Charon for transporting the soul of the deceased through the Styx. The coin was issued during the reign of Marcus Aurelius at the end of II. The second coin turned out to be a denarius, which were issued during the reign of Emperor Trajan, from 98 to 117. “Everything fits, except for Trajan's coin, which is a hundred years older than the rest of the items. However, she could have got there by accident,”says Fitzpatrick-Matthews. The mosaic plates found in the burial also belong to the turn of the 2nd-3rd centuries, which allows confirming the numismatic dating.
Coin with the profile of Emperor Trajan
IAS initials bottle
Bronze jug
Patera for libations
According to archaeologists, the burial most likely belonged to a wealthy person who lived in a country villa: the nearest city was located during the time of the Empire, four kilometers from the burial. In addition to burial, a Roman well was previously discovered in the same field.
