Tuesday Times Tables: The Idyllic Iron Age

When the Romans invaded Britain they found a country divided into tribal territories, some of which offered staunch resistance to the Roman advance. But this was not always the case. The Dobunni, who controlled the Cotswolds and northern Somerset, capitulated to the Romans and may have even surrendered before the army entered the South West. The goddess Sulis-Minerva, who was worshipped at the Temple in Bath, was a combination of Roman and British mythology and may have been a Roman tribute to the peaceful locals.

Bath has a relatively high concentration of nearby Iron Age hillforts, defensive structures that dominate the skyline, and yet remarkably few weapons, limited to a handful of iron spearheads. Instead, the artefacts that we have found in the area are more suggestive of a peaceful and pastoral landscape. The hillforts perhaps acted as meeting places or food distribution centres, with the lower slopes covered with cultivated fields and farmsteads.

The ramparts of Little Solsbury Hillfort

Carbonised grains of Emmer wheat, an early form of domesticated wheat and very important in Iron Age life, was found in a hearth in the Little Solsbury hillfort. The wheat could be made into porridge, and sherds of the courseware pots it was cooked in have also been found.

There are also indications of cloth making. Spindle whorls made of stone and bone were used to spin the fleece of local sheep into yarn. A large lump of Bath limestone with a hole drilled through it was used to weigh down threads on a loom to create woollen textiles. A fine bone pin would push the weft threads together to create a tighter concentration and a finer cloth.

Iron Age coin showing horse and wheel on reverse (BATRM1980.316)

 The archaeology around Bath shows there was a preoccupation with ritual and belief. Two bronze spoons were deposited in a stream in Weston. They are decorated with beautiful curvilinear designs. Pairs of spoons like these are found infrequently across Britain and always in ritual contexts, in water or burials. Coins like the one pictured were discovered in the Sacred Spring at the Roman Baths, and indicate the importance of the waters before the arrival of the Romans. Many were minted by the local Dobunni tribe, but others were from the tribe south of Bath and may show tribal interactions were good-natured in the area.

These artefacts were brought out for visitors to investigate Iron Age Bath as a landscape of domesticity and mystery as part of our programme of Tuesday Times Tables, so join us next week to find out how they continue!

Jim

Volunteer

Tuesday Times Tables: The Curses and the Sacred Spring

One of my favourite jobs during my internship at the The Roman Baths has been working on my Tuesday Times Table. I chose to show to the visitors the curse tablets and the other objects thrown into the Sacred Spring by the Romans. The curses are tablets made of lead and pewter, inscribed by hand and dedicated by people to the goddess Sulis Minerva (as well as Mars and Mercury), asking for revenge and justice for missing objects, probably stolen. Some of them were folded or rolled. Most of the curses are written in colloquial Latin, specifically the Vulgar Latin of the Romano-British population. The tablets contain religious prayers and Roman and Celtic names. Some of them are written in capital letters, others using the old or new Roman cursive and others are illiterate. In the Sacred Spring were found many other objects like coins, jewellery, vessels and wood and stone objects. They were all offerings to the goddess.

During my display by the Great Bath many people seemed to be interested in my project. I had a table on which I could show the objects, in particular the curses with a display board with some further details. People were invited to handle every object (well in their boxes!) and this is the very good thing about the Tuesday Times Tables, because usually people can’t handle objects in museums, but thanks to this project they could personally discover the finds, and they were very surprised by this, and sometimes hesitant!

My handling table by the Great Bath

At my table there was an activity for children too. They could try to write their names using the ancient cursive Roman alphabet. This activity became very popular with adults too, many people tried to write their names or other words with the alphabet and they realised that it is very different from the English alphabet and that there are missing letters!

Stefania Ballocco

Universita’ degli studi di Cagliari (Italy)

Erasmus intern with the Collections team

Le maledizioni e la fonte sacra

Uno degli incarichi svolti durante il mio tirocinio al Roman Bath Museum e’ stato lavorare al Tuesaday Time Table, un progetto che prevede l’esposizione al pubblico di oggetti normalmente non visibili. Ho scelto di mostrare ai visitatori le tavolette delle maledizioni e gli altri oggetti che venivano riposti nella fonte sacra dai Romani.

Le maledizioni sono tavolette di piombo o peltro, incise a mano e dedicate alla dea Sulis Minerva. I dedicatari chidevano giustizia e vendetta per oggetti persi, probabilmente rubati. Alcune di queste sono state ritrovate nella fonte piegate o arrotolate. La maggior parte sono scritte in latino colloquilale, in particolare e’ stato usato il latino volgare della popolazioni Romano –britanniche. Le tavolette contengono preghiere alla dea e sono una fonte per lo studio e la conoscenza dell’onomastica romana e celtica. Alcune sono state scritte in stampatello, altre utilizzando il corsivo, altre ancora sono incomprensibili o illegibili. Nella fonte sacra sono stati ritrovati molti altri oggetti, quali monete, vasi, gioielli,  e oggetti in osso e in pietra. Erano tutte offerte per la dea.

Durante l’esposizione nel Great Bath i visitatori del museo si sono mostrati interessati al mio progetto.  Ho esposto le maledizioni e gli altri oggetti in un tavolo, nel quale si trovava anche un pannello con informazioni aggiuntive. Le persone erano invitate a toccare con mano ogni oggetto (posto ovviamente all’interno della sua scatola!), e questa e’ la vera cosa interessante del Tuesday Time Table, in quanto di solito i visitatori nei musei non possono toccare gli oggetti, ma grazie a questo progetto possono scoprirli personalmente, e molti di loro sono sorpresi da questo, alcuni addirittura esitanti.

La mia esposizione nel Great Bath

Nel mio tavolo c’era anche un attivita’ dedicata ai bambini, i quali potevano provare a scrivere il loro nome usando l’antico alfabeto latino corsivo. Questa attivita’ e’ diventata molto popolare anche tra gli adulti, che si sono cimentati nel provare a scrivere i loro nomi e altre parole, scoprendo che l’antico alfabeto latino e’ completamente diverso da quello inglese e che molte lettere sono assenti!

Stefania Ballocco

Universita’ degli studi di Cagliari 

Tuesday Times Tables: Art and Design in Roman Britain

Choosing the theme of ‘Art and Design in Roman Britain’ was easy for my handling table, due to the wealth of art within the collections in the Roman Baths. I focused on pottery, glass, wall painting, mosaics and jewellery as they were perfect examples of art in Britain, and within Bath as all my objects were local finds. Having only ever studied Roman art within Rome and the surrounding empire, it was a challenge learning new things about art within Roman Britain, especially the cultural overlapping with the Celtic tribes within Britain at the time of the Roman conquest.

Overlap between the Celtic and Roman styles was mainly seen within the jewellery on my handling table. The brooches and bracelets were perfect examples of a Celtic influence, due to the swirling designs which are identifiable as Celtic. I had beautiful twisted bronze and copper bracelets, with a tiny child’s bracelet which was a personal favourite. I also had a number of replica brooches, pins and torcs on display as examples of how varied and colourful Roman jewellery was and how the styles had changed.

Child's Copper Alloy Bracelet

Mosaics are always important examples of art within the Roman world, let alone in Roman Britain where fewer have survived. I used tesserae (the square stones in a mosaic) as an example of the scale on which each tiny tessera was placed, and was amazed how durable they are considering their age. Accompanying my tesserae was a piece of mosaic from Weymouth House School in Bath, found in 1897.  The mosaic was popular with those who had never seen or had contact with a Roman mosaic before.

Mosaic piece from Weymouth House School

Using Samian pottery as examples was perfect due to its vibrant ochre colouring and beautiful designs of birds, and a sun among other motifs on the sherds of the pottery, I also had a replica Samian bowl with a Barbotine design around the top to show how Samian ware might have looked when complete.

Samian Bowl Sherd

The most popular and impressive item was a small bronze eagle, which was an ornamental fitting for an object. I was amazed how well preserved the eagle was with the perfect incision of feathers on the wings outstretched, and on the face of the beak. Although small it made a big impact on my handling table due its beauty, and for its symbolism of the Ancient Roman world and its presence which is still here today.

Roman Bronze Eagle Figurine

Megan 

Roman Society Intern

Found It! - Pop Quiz!

Pop Quiz:

Who discovered the Baths?

a) a prince
b) a major
c) some pigs
d) the Romans

Excavations at the Great Baths

Answer: A B or C.

When the Romans came to Bath in the first century AD the local Celtic tribe was the Dobunni . The Dobunni had been worshiping a local god called Sulis.

Twenty years later the Romans built a religious and bathing complex on the site. They dedicated the temple to Sulis Minerva, a combination of the Celtic god Sulis and the Roman Goddess Minerva.

The Roman bathing complex fell into disrepair after the Fall of Rome but people continued to enjoy the hot spring, building new facilities over it. In 1878, Major Charles Davis unearthed the Great Bath when he was looking for the source of leak.

While some would credit the Medieval King Edgar as the founder of Bath, others prefer to go back in time to 863 BC to a story about a man and his pigs.

According to the legend, it was King Lear’s father, Bladud who founded Bath, but if you read the legend carefully the spring was actually discovered by pigs.

Bladud had contracted leprosy while studying in Greece. He was cast out of court when he got home for fear that the disease would spread to the rest of the court. Reduced to working as a swine herder, his pigs soon contracted the disease.

One day when he was out, his pigs started rolling around in some warm mud. Surprisingly, the pig’s skin had cleared after wallowing in the mud. Intrigued, he decided to jump in the mud too. Miraculously, his leprosy was cured.

The cured Bladud returned to court eventually becoming king.


Joanna