Top 10 Artifacts at New Vindolanda Museum, Hadrian's Wall site refurb to open in 2011 Options

[JGolomb]

Preview: Top 10 Artefacts Coming to the New Vindolanda Museum in 2011

1: The Vindolanda Tablets


The tablets on loan from the British Museum will be the star attraction at the newly refurbished museum. Birley says: “There are some amazing tablets: they cover personal letters, store lists, writing exercises and garrison strength reports. We will be highlighting those in the exhibition and using the tablets to tell their own story from the past. That really has to be our top treasure.”

So many tablets have been found at Vindolanda because it is a site where several Roman military camps have been built over a period of time one on top of the other. This layering of building materials, along with clay in the ground, has created sealed pockets deep in the ground where oxygen doesn't circulate much. These anaerobic conditions – where there is no oxidisation – means that materials such as leather, textiles, wood, plant matter and metals are very well preserved.

The first tablets were found at Vindolanda in 1973 and excavators have been finding batches of tablets ever since when working at the right anaerobic levels. Birley says: “When we find them we conserve, research and photograph them – but in the early 80s our trustees decided that it was in the best interest of the tablets that they go to the British Museum. So the tablets were voluntarily given to the BM at that stage. Now that our own museum has progressed, we'd like to have a few back, so that people can see them next to the site where they were found.”

As to why there would be so many tablets found in one location – Birley says this may be due to Romans having 'clear outs' when one cohort moves on from the camp and another comes in. Some groups of the tablets may have been 'dumped', others may have been used as landfill, while more than 400 tablets have been found on a bonfire, which the damp Northumberland weather had put out before all of them were burnt.


2. A Huge Collection of Roman Footwear And Other Leather Objects

This collection has some exceptional pieces that have been very well preserved by the anaerobic conditions at Vindolanda. The new display will include a whole wall dedicated to Roman footwear - Imelda Marcos eat your heart out! This will enable visitors to get very close and will give a good idea of Vindolanda's collection – about 6,000 leather pieces have been found at the site. Other leather items found at Vindolanda include an almost complete chamfron (a horse's headdress), as well as at least three leather military tents. Birley says that the extent and quality of this collection of Roman leather artefacts is impressive.

3. Wooden Objects and Composite Artefacts

This collection of objects includes: a mason's trowel, which has a wooden handle and the pointed metal end (it is still dirty from a day's use); a complete hammer with a metal head and wooden shank; a whole wagon axle; red shovels; and other smaller objects such as a needle case with graded needles inside and a little wooden comb in a leather case.

4. Woven Artefacts

There is a lady's wig made from hairmoss, which is a natural plant that grows near Vindolanda and looks like auburn hair when it's new and woven together. There is also a very rare centurian's helmet crest made of the same plant, as well as a hairnet made of very fine woven textile, similar to a crocheted hairnet.

5. A Piece of Painted Glass Bowl

This fragment of a clear glass bowl has a very colourful gladiator scene painted on it. This bowl originated in Cologne and had been imported to Vindolanda.


6. A Set of Samian Dinnerware

Also on display is a crate-full of unused Samian pottery, part of a complete dinner service. This came out of one of the fort ditches in beautiful condition, according to Birley. She says:

“We presume that the crate arrived at Vindolanda broken in transit and was then thrown into the ditch – there were probably some disappointed people here when it arrived in Roman times.”

7. Coins

The coins found at Vindolanda are in superb condition because the anaerobic layer of soil preserves metals very well. Some of the bronze coins are so well preserved they look like gold.

8. Jewellery

There are many items of jewellery on display at Vindolanda - including s a jet betrothal medallion showing the happy couple on the front, and on the back is an image of clasped hands, the Roman sign for an agreement or a promise, as well as a collection of gold and silver finger rings, some depicting gods and goddesses, and some with messages on them.

9. Sculpted and Inscribed Stones

These are similar to the Altar of Jupiter of Doliche, found earlier this year at Vindolanda, and some of them are going on display for the very first time because, according to Birley, there has been no room until now to put them on display. A reinforced floor is needed to support this heavy stones – and with the new-look museum, this will at least be in place.

10. A Small Portable Christian Altar

This small altar has a Christian symbol on it and was found in the old Praetorian site of the last stone fort at Vindolanda. It comes towards the end of the Roman period at Vindolanda – just as the Vindolanda tablets date from the early era of the fort. It's a tiny stone about the size of a large postcard, 8-9cm in thickness and is a smooth piece of sandstone with the Chi-Rho symbol on it.

[Centurion-Macro]

Oddly enough, I have never heard of the The Vindolanda Tablets. The painted glass bowl looks great though, with its picture of...what is it? a Samnite Gladiator?

[Medusa]

Oddly enough, I have never heard of the The Vindolanda Tablets. The painted glass bowl looks great though, with its picture of...what is it? a Samnite Gladiator?

The gladiators shown are a secutor (with scutum and gladius) and a retiarius (with trident). A Samnite gladiator is known only from the republic time and the scholars do not know what his armatara really looked like if he was a predecessor to the murmillo. The pairing retiarius vs. secutor became one of the most popular ones and is seen on many depictions.

[Ludovicus]

I wonder if there are studies on the Latin found in the letters/writing from the Vindolanda site. I can't think of another cache of Latin documents so revealing of everyday life.  

[Melvadius]

Oddly enough, I have never heard of the The Vindolanda Tablets. The painted glass bowl looks great though, with its picture of...what is it? a Samnite Gladiator?

You shock me (as does Ludovicus) - I thought they were the most famous body of Latin military texts from Britain if not most of Europe (Medieval translations or copies of earlier works, Egyptian ostraca as non-European and Herculaneum papyri as the contents of a single civilian library obviously excepted).

Check out the following link to the online version of Bowmans work on the subject (Vols I and II only not the more recent Vol III so far) where each of the tablets found to date and transcribed are described and their text interpreted:

http://vindolanda.csad.ox.ac.uk/

The 'subject' search is a good way of targeting particular topics discussed in the tablets at:

http://vindolanda.csad.ox.ac.uk/4DLink2/4D...;submit=Subject

This post has been edited by Melvadius: Oct 29 2009, 05:08 PM

[Ludovicus]

Melvadius, I don't know whether to sing your praises for the two links you included in the last post or to shout one of those ancient British curses at you. I spent three hours online completely enthrawed. Seriously, thanks for the Vindolanda site! But three hours!

This post has been edited by Ludovicus: Oct 30 2009, 11:17 AM

[Melvadius]

Melvadius, I don't know whether to sing your praises for the two links you included in the last post or to shout one of those ancient British curses at you. I spent three hours online completely enthrawed. Seriously, thanks for the Vindolanda site! But three hours!

Sorry

[Crispina]

Melvadius, I don't know whether to sing your praises for the two links you included in the last post or to shout one of those ancient British curses at you. I spent three hours online completely enthrawed. Seriously, thanks for the Vindolanda site! But three hours!

Sorry

I also thank you posting the links. I spent almost two hours reading.