Dig at Northumberland Roman site unearths fascinating range of items

A dropped coin whose loss would have saddened the owner has proved a valuable gain for archaeologists investigating a Northumberland Roman fort.

Among the finds from this year’s excavations at Vindolanda is a very well-worn brass early coin of Mary Queen of Scots, whose rivalry with Elizabeth I led to her execution in 1587. It has offered evidence of the earliest date so far of robbers who carried away usable stone from the fort ruins.

The reverse of the coin has been purposely marked to make it no longer usable as legal tender. “It means it could have been one of the coins of Mary to have been recalled in 1575 when the government did a check and removed or defaced suspect coins to keep them from circulation,” said Vindolanda chief executive and director of excavations Andrew Birley.

“It is so worn it was probably kept as a keepsake for many years before being, no doubt, dropped by accident by those robbing stone from the Roman remains. Those who were loyal supporters of Queen Mary could well have kept these as mementos of her reign, and perhaps represented their own political or patriotic views. It is the earliest evidence we have of stone robbing taking place at the site.”

This year’s dig produced around 400 small finds – a number of which are further evidence of stone robbing activity. Andrew said: “From the robber trenches a real mixture of material came out, copper alloy brooches, nail cleaners and the remains of a marble make up pallet amongst the loose stone thrown back in.

“Stone robbers removed some sections of good building stones but appear to have been completely disinterested in keeping artefacts, or at the very least, left plenty of them behind. It was frustrating to have so many things de-contextualised by this sort of activity but it shows us that for the robbers, the stone from the site was the material with the greatest value.”

Finds included a copper alloy brooch with a glass centre featuring vibrant colours, dating from the late Third to the Fourth century. The pin and clasp were intact which means that it is still a working brooch. The excavations recovered 134 coins, including a coin of Queen Victoria,

Most were late Fourth century coins - small change dropped by soldiers and their families on the bracken and heather floors, or into drains. “Hardly worth bending over to pick up, but incredibly useful to us for the dating of levels and spaces at the site,” said Andrew.

Other discoveries included a copper-ally figurine of the god Mars on its stand, the 7cm-long head of a bull deity and the small stone head of a goddess with a mural crown. The goddess may be another representation of Brigantia, like that found in 2014 by the Wallcap excavations at South Shields.

Two phalluses were found carved into the flagstone roads and floors of buildings, with an oven between them. “This will be helpful in building up a better understanding between the relationship of luck, fertility, and cooking at the fort and in the wider Roman Empire where more and more evidence of these practices are coming to light.,” said Andrew.

Finds which bring the history of the site into the 20th century came from an archaeological spoil heap from the 1933 excavations in the area, previously unknown and not recorded. This produced glass bottles, crockery, and the remains of two leather shoes from workmen involved in the excavations.