Roman silver ring with intaglio found at Magna Fort

[guy]

 

An intact silver Roman ring with an intaglio has been found at Magna Fort at Hadrian’s Wall.

 

 

https://www.hexham-courant.co.uk/news/25653367.rare-roman-silver-ring-discovered-northumberland-site/

 

Magna Fort has been the site of recent excavations and discoveries:

Other Roman intaglios have been found in Britain (see post below):

 

 

Edited February 7 by guy

[guy]

Here is the official blog note on the find (November 19):

19th November

While is every day onsite is exciting, with constant new discoveries about the history of Magna fort, there are some moments that stick in your memory more than others. Sometimes it’s because we’ve faced some extreme weather or flooding in the trenches, but on other occasions it can be due to a particularly special find. 

One such day came in early August this year, when our volunteer Shaun called me over saying he had something I needed to come and see. Heading over to where he was digging, I was amazed when he showed me a complete silver finger ring with an intaglio set into it. Even before any cleaning or conservation it was obvious that this was a beautiful piece of jewellery, and in really good condition despite being buried for over 1500 years! A simple design was visible on the front of the band and after a bit of examination a tiny hare was visible carved into the (probably) carnelian intaglio.

Although excavating the rest of the deposit this ring was found in provided no clues about its story, I can’t help wondering about its owner and how it came to be there. Was it worn by a man or a woman? Who were they and why were they at Magna? Did they lose the ring, and how did they react when they realised? We might never know the answer to these questions, but we can at least appreciate the beauty and craftsmanship of this artefact now it has been brought to light once again. Rachel

The ring is featured in episode 3 of Sandi Toksvig’s Hidden Wonders programme. We had a great week with Sandi and Raksha Dave back in August. You can watch the series on demand on Channel 4.

https://romanarmymuseum.com/magnafort/magna-dig-diary-2025/

Edited December 4, 2025 by guy