Secrets of Roman Building Materials

Have you ever wondered, in a world dominated by concrete and synthetic materials, what the Romans used over two thousand years ago to produce enduring buildings, all without the aid of modern technology? 

Crafting from Nature 

Roman Britain had a variety of small workshops in every town, with the majority of the goods being produced there to satisfy regional demands. The Romans used natural resources and transformed them into purpose-fit building materials. From the rock and clay in the ground, timbers in the forest, to sand on the seashore, they selected materials wisely. 

Experienced craftsmen then made the raw materials into durable building components. For instance, tufa, which is a porous sedimentary rock created in mineral springs. Its sponge-like texture, which was both light and robust, made it an ideal material for creating vaulting structures. Due to the tufa's special characteristics, craftsmen used it to create wedge-shaped voussoirs that, when placed next to each other, supported beautiful vaults or arches.

Tufa from the Great Bath, Roman Baths 

Functional and Aesthetic 

The Romans were more than just engineers; they were artists who celebrated both beauty and function. The colorful and well-designed mosaics that adorned their rooms were a clear sign of this mix. 

Mosaics have a long and interesting past. They started in Mesopotamia in the 3rd millennium BC and spread to places like Ancient Greece and Rome before being used all over the world. In the Roman Baths, mosaic art is a burst of color. The secret? The tesserae made from different stones including hematite, pyrite, yellow iron oxide, and local Bath Stone. Bath Stone, which is also called freestone, got its name because it is soft and easy to cut in any direction. Since Roman and Medieval times, it's been a go-to for building across southern England. From churches to homes, its honey-colored beauty remains. Even today, Bath's Georgian buildings shine, thanks to this ancient material. 

Bath Stone (photo credit: The Open University Geological Society) 

Sea Horse Mosaic, Roman Baths 

Materials from Far and Wide 

 As the Roman Empire expanded, a wide variety of building materials flowed in from diverse lands, bringing abundant supplies. A good example is the Roman Baths, which made use of both native materials and imported ones. 

Due to a scarcity of natural marble in England, this expensive stone was imported from Spain or Southern Italy, giving luxury to the construction. Purbeck marble stepped in as a low-cost replacement. It has a polished shine while not being real marble. This fossiliferous limestone from Dorset, England, sometime contains fossils of ancient freshwater organisms. This is a Labrum fragment made of Purbeck marble found at the Roman Baths to hold water, which was used to cleanse before entering the bath or to cool down in the Caldarium (hot bathroom). 

Labrum fragment made of Purbeck marble 

Xingyue Yang Placement Student

古罗马建筑的秘密

 

生活在一个被钢筋水泥和复合材料包围的世界，你是否想过，两千多年前，没有任何现代科技的罗马人使用什么材料去建造房屋呢？

取自自然

罗马不列颠的每一个小镇都有不同的小作坊，生产不同种类的产品以满足本地需求。罗马人利用自然资源，并将其改造加工成不同部件的建筑材料。地下的岩石与粘土，森林中的树木，海边的沙子，都是他们充满智慧的选择。

在完成选择材料后，经验丰富的工匠将原材料加工成坚固耐用的建筑构件。比如说，Tufa，这是一种多孔的沉积岩，形成于矿物质泉水之中。Tufa如同海绵般的结构赋予了它兼顾轻巧和坚固的特点，使之成为修建拱顶的理想材料。由于这种特性，工匠们将Tufa制成楔状穹顶部件，当一个个部件紧密相连就构成了美观的圆形拱顶或者拱门。

在罗马巴斯浴场发现的 Tufa  

实用与美观

罗马人不仅仅是建筑工程师，更是兼顾美观与实用性的艺术家。汇聚设计巧思的五颜六色的马赛克便是最好的例子，它常用于室内装饰。

马赛克历史悠久，起源于公元前三世纪的美索不达米亚，然后传播到古希腊和古罗马，最终全世界都能发现它们的身影。在罗马巴斯浴场，马赛克迸发出绚烂的艺术之光。五颜六色的马赛克由不同石料制成的 tesserae 组成，包括赤铁矿、黄铁矿、黄色氧化铁和当地的Bath Stone。Bath Stone，又称 "freestone"，因其质地柔软、易于从任何方向进行切割而得名。从罗马时期和中世纪起，在英格兰南部地区，Bath Stone 便成为常见的建筑材料。无论是神圣的教堂，还是日常的民居，都可以找到Bath Stone的如同蜂蜜般的黄色外观。时至今日，巴斯城中的乔治亚风格建筑依然熠熠生辉，这要归功于这种历史悠久的材料。

Bath Stone (图片来源: The Open University Geological Society)

罗马巴斯浴场中的海马装饰马赛克

 

来源丰富的原料

随着罗马帝国的扩张，建筑材料的原产地更加多样，带来了丰富且充足的供给。罗马巴斯浴场就是一个好的例子，同时使用了本地和进口的材料。

在英格兰本土，天然大理石十分稀少，这种昂贵的石材往往从今天西班牙或者意大利南部进口，属于极其奢侈的建筑材料。Purbeck marble 是天然大理石的平价替代品。这种石材虽然不是真正的大理石，但打磨后也有抛光的质感。这种产自英格兰 Dorset 的石灰岩化石，有时含有古代淡水生物的化石。下图是在罗马巴斯浴场发现的由 Purbeck marble 制成的 Labrum 的文物遗存，用于装盛清水，在进入浴场前用来清洁，或在 Caldarium（热浴室）中用来降温。

由 Purbeck marble 制成的 Labrum

杨星月

实习学生

A Stony Situation

With a very busy summer coming to an end, you might expect life at the Roman Baths to quieten down a little - but things couldn’t be further from the truth! The Archway Project is in full swing, with some preliminary excavations in the vault beneath York Street in central Bath already unearthing some exciting surprises.

Archaeologists at work in the York Street vault

When the Archway building works under York Street are completed and the new Investigation Zone is opened to the public, it will be filled with Roman stones from the site as part of the interpretation and display. The Collections team and our volunteers have undertaken the laborious task of recording hundreds of stones, some previously unidentified and many untouched since their discovery by the Victorians.

Identifying stones at our offsite store 

With all hands on deck and a crack team from Cliveden Conservation, who lifted, weighed and sometimes turned each stone individually, we recorded 202 stones with weights going up to 620kg in just 10 days!

Cliveden Conservation lifting and weighing a stone from the Roman Baths

In that time, Cotswold Archaeology joined us for three days to create a 3D photogrammetric record of 15 specific stones. This involved taking hundreds of photographs of each stone from every angle possible in order to create a digital 3D model that can be examined in minute detail, rotated and moved around with ease on a screen. The chosen stones will be used in an app for schoolchildren to identify specific types of Roman building blocks and manipulate them on screen, learning more about Roman building and how the Roman Baths may once have looked.

Photogrammetry in action!

The results of this work will also be incredibly helpful as a conservation record for our collection, showing the stones in a way that allows us to easily examine, compare and move them around without having to physically lift these huge blocks again! Our plan is to produce a 3D model of every stone that we have been examining, and with this technology at our fingertips continue to learn more about our incredible site for years to come!

A sea of stones, recorded, weighed and identified

For more information about the Archway Project go to our website and keep an eye on our Facebook page for updates as they happen!


Zofia
Collections Assistant

'Cataloguing Keynsham' Update

Our Keynsham volunteers have been hard at work documenting the material from Keynsham Abbey, that I reported on in 'Cataloguing Keynsham' in November 2015.

Keynsham volunteers photographing tiles

To date 21 boxes of Medieval floor tiles have been catalogued, that’s 592 tiles covering 91 designs. The team have been getting to grips with the photography; how to make sure your image is clear and that you’re photographing the tile the right way up, which isn’t always easy if all you have to work with is a small fragment.

Saxon stonework from Keynsham Abbey site

Meanwhile the other half of the team has been tackling all manner of jobs including measuring and photographing stonework, amounting to some 289 pieces, and accessioning and cataloguing the remainder of the Medieval tiles not accessioned back in 2011. Next they’re on to more fiddly objects; photographing all the small finds from Keynsham Abbey, a great opportunity for them to handle a variety of different materials including bone, copper and textiles.

Look out for more updates on the project in the coming months.

Verity, Collections Assistant

A Gorgon's Head?

Gorgon's Head?

I have puzzled over an alternative interpretation as to who/what the image in the centre of the Temple Pediment really is. I am sure that the character who dominates the centre is almost certainly not a Gorgon. For starters it’s a male; the only male Gorgon is Nanas (guardian of Zeus) who would have no relation to this site. Most importantly though, where are the snakes!? I see some thick wisps of beard but certainly no snakes. So who is this character?

The obvious choice for me is Neptune, not only does the aged bearded face resemble him but he is the God of water. The Romans had no natural explanation for hot springs such as those found at Bath, so to turn to a supernatural source for worship was not uncommon and here the deity of water makes perfect sense.

Artist illustration of Temple Pediment

If you look carefully you will see nestled in the corner of the pediment are Tritons; half men half fish creatures who were the servants of Neptune. If this image is not of Neptune then who is he? This mysterious figure could be any one of a number of water deities, perhaps the God Oceanus?

Mildenhall Silver Plate

Another theory is that in an effort to endear themselves to the native populous they governed, the Romans often amalgamated ‘their’ Gods with local ones (our very own Sulis Minerva is a great example of this.) Perhaps this is what happened here but current knowledge of local deities is very limited and offers no obvious links.

Next and perhaps most controversially it might be Mithras. This Eastern God was popular amongst the Romans at the time the Baths were active. Worship of Mithras was most popular among the military; soldiers of course built the Baths. The story of this God is also entwined with that of Sol (the Sun God).

As the Roman Baths website tells us the discovery of the Gorgons Head Temple Pediment “confirmed that the Roman site at Bath was unusual and attracted special interest to the site”.
Is it right to keep referring to this image as a Gorgon when it is clearly an interpretation that can be questioned? It’s hard to believe that once the head of Sulis Minerva was believed to be that of Apollo, What do you think?

Heath Meltdown

A Few Great Men - Statues on the Terrace

Many visitors to the Baths believe the statues around the terrace to be Roman; they are, in fact, just over one hundred years old. Julius Caesar is even more modern - one morning in the 1980s, he was found languishing at the bottom of the Great Bath after being given a helping push by some drunken youths!

All of the statues are male except for the bust of Roma and many of these men are instantly recognizable from the annals of Roman history. The governors of Britain are less recognizable names and yet played a far more important role than any Emperor in conquering Britain.

Suetonius Paulinus

One governor who deserves better recognition is Suetonius Paulinus (governor: 58-61 AD), famous for his role in subduing the Boudiccan rebellion. Before he came to Britain, he had made his name leading an expedition across the Atlas Mountains, becoming one of the first Europeans to experience the harshness of the Sahara Desert. His undertakings are recorded by Pliny the Elder in Naturalis Historia.

Julius Agricola

Another great man, Julius Agricola (governor 77-87 AD), stands proudly on the terrace. He subdued a large part of Britain including Wales, northern England and even parts of Scotland. He helped establish control of the area that today is referred to as Roman Britain. His exploits are recorded by Tacitus in De vita et moribus Iulii Agricolae.

Ostorius Scapula (governor 47-52 AD) had a huge impact on both the military and the economy of Britain, but Scapula is most famous for capturing Caratacus. Caratacus was the most powerful British warlord before the Roman invasion and he continued to be a thorn in Roman sides for a long time after, until he was captured and sent to Rome by Scapula.

Ostorius Scapula

The city of Bath (or Aquae Sulis as it was during the Roman period) is surrounded by the Mendip Hills. These hills are rich in lead and this was first exploited under Scapula’s leadership. Lead became one of Britain’s biggest exports - it even turns up in places like Pompeii!!

These men are great characters from history and have had a huge impact upon the British nation. Their role in history should not be forgotten or ignored merely because they never rose to the same dizzy heights as the Emperors.

Heath Meltdown

Stanton Drew – The Secret of the Stones

Stanton Drew Main Stone Circle

In 2009, as part of the Festival of British Archaeology events, we went out into the parish of Stanton Drew. Here lies a little known set of stone circles that date to 2000-3000 BC. What’s most interesting about this site is that, unlike Avebury and Stonehenge, it has never been excavated. In 1997, a geophysical survey of the stone circles turned up some impressive results – wooden post holes were found indicating that there would have once been a series of wooden circles on the site.

In 2009, Bath and Camerton Archaeological Society, under the careful guidance of Richard Sermon (County Archaeologist for BANES), carried out a geophysical survey of the cove. The cove is a name given to three stones outlying the stone circles – the findings indicated that these three stones were once part of a long barrow, a place where the ancient people used to bury their dead.


Members of Bath and Camerton at The Cove

 We set up displays in the local village hall; we had a story teller, handling objects and coil pot making activities. The WVS were on hand to serve tea and cake (some of the best I have ever tasted). There was a flint knapper making prehistoric flint tools in the ‘Druids Arms’ garden (alongside the cove) and a self guided walk that allowed everyone to enjoy the archaeology.

Flint Knapper in Action

A big thank you must go to all those who got involved - the villagers, teachers, school children, local farmers and landowners, Bath and Camerton Archaeological Society and the other interest groups who came on the day to share some of thieirwork. It truly was a magical day in a very special setting.

Coil Pot Making

In 2010, we explored the Medieval in Englishcombe (see Katrina’s previous blog for more details!) and this year for the Festival of British Archaeology we are back in the prehistoric, but this time we want to share with you the ‘Secrets of the Downs’. We will be at the University of Bath Arts Barn on Saturday 30th July 2011. So if, like me, you are really into your archaeology or maybe you just want a fantastic free day out with the family – why not come along…..


For more details on the event this year please follow the link below

http://www.romanbaths.co.uk/whats_on/events1.aspx


For the full and in-depth report on the geophysical survey findings please go to

http://www.stantondrewchurch.org/stones/bacasreport.pdf

Helen Harman - Collections Assistant