Roman Finds

The Romans occupied Britain from the first century AD until around the fifth century. Although they invaded almost 2000 years ago there are still many major examples of their work to be seen around the country. Some of their buildings are still in reasonable condition providing us with a valuable insight into their lifestyle. The museum at the Barbican, London contains some excellent exhibits relating to life under the romans. The British Museum has some excellent Roman exhibits.

When I first started metal detecting 6 years ago my ambition was to find a roman coin. I couldn't believe that you could simply go out into a field and dig up a 2000 year old Roman coin. It was several months before I found one but when I did I was ecstatic. It was only a corroded bronze but you could clearly see the emperor's face on it. I have found many since then but I will never cease to be amazed at the skill that went into the artwork on them. Unfortunately the soil in Britain is not very kind to bronze coins so most of them come up in poor condition. However, this makes it all the more satisfying when you do find one in very good condition.

The Romans were skilled metalworkers and I particularly like their brooches. There are hundreds of varieties and you can see a few of the styles below.

Copper Alloy Artefacts

BROOCHES

Sandal Brooch Unfortunately broken, but still retaining some of the original orange enamel	Brooch	Dolphin Brooch Some of the pin remains and there is some nice silvering on the cross piece.
Disc Brooch Traces of the original orange enamel can be seen.	Brooch Another variation of Roman brooch.	Animal Brooch This is a rather abstract example of an animal brooch. Rabbits, dogs, ducks and many other animals appear as animal brooches.
Brooch Colchester type brooch	Disc Plate Brooch
Catchplate Broken catchplate of very ornate brooch	Brooch “T” brooch	Disc Brooch

Home & Jewellery:
Copper alloy Roman bronze key
Another Roman key, this time in the form of a ring which would have been worn by the owner. Literally a key ring.
From the left, a fragment of very ornate bracelet. A “pin” missing its tip but with ornate head and grooves. On the right a Roman nail cleaner missing one end.
Fragment of high status bracelet. The central grooves have been tinned or silvered.
A hexagonal Roman finger ring and a mount of some sort
Another mount, possibly from a belt or piece of leather (the strap would have gone through the fixing at the back)
Silver head of a decorative pin. Spoon bowl
Roman bronze finger ring
Piece of Roman metalwork
Silver Roman ring bezel
Bronze "plate" with raised border
Pin

Religious Items
I suspect that this may be a votive item. Many votive items were deliberately broken before being discarded as offerings to Roman gods. This could be a tortoise, the broken lugs around the edge could be the head, tail and legs
Another votive item. This time a miniature axe.
Another votive item. This time a miniature axe.
Roman Bronze Hand (Possibly votive)

COINS

Silver Coins:
This section describes half a dozen denarii found recently. The denarius was the most common silver coin used during the first two centuries A.D. in Britain. In Roman times, as now, the silver coins were worth considerably more than the bronzes. Typically a denarius would be worth 16 times that of a small bronze (called an "as"). The sestertii shown above would be worth 4 asses , but individually are only worth a quarter of a denarius. I have yet to find a Roman gold coin (e.g aureus, solidus) as they are quite rare and usually only show up in hoards. Each Aureus is worth 25 silver denarii, hence they weren’t circulated as much as the other coins. What I found interesting is that the denarii found covered a period of time from a few years B.C. to the fourth century. I’ll describe the coins:
This is oldest coin that I’ve found recently. It’s a Republican denarius of Mark Anthony, minted in Europe in 32 B.C. (just before he fled with Cleopatra?). The coin would have been brought over to Britain by a soldier or trader. The coin is very worn but you can just recognise the pattern as that of a galley. The reverse has been deliberately defaced (abraded) but the pattern (a legionary eagle between two standards) matches the one in my reference books.
Moving on a few years, the next coin was minted by Tiberius (A.D. 14 – 37) during the time that he ruled the empire. The legend reads TI.CAESAR DIVI AVG.F.AUGUSTVS and the reverse shows Livia seated and the words “Pontif.maxim”. This coin was made before the main Roman invasion in A.D. 43.
You can read the legend on this one which starts “Hadrianvs” i.e. Hadrian who built the famous wall. He ruled between A.D. 117 and 138.
More Denarii
This coin is a denarius of Antoninus Pius. The portrait appears to have been overstruck as there is a “shadow” to the right of the face, which may be the remains of the original impression. I think that the “COS III” dates this coin to around A.D.140. The reverse is one that I haven’t seen before and has the legend “ANNONA”.
The youngster on the right looks as though he should be at school rather than ruling Rome. I think that it’s Caracalla (A.D. 198-217).
This denarius is from the fourth century but I can’t tell who the emperor is as the reverse has been erased.

Bronze Coins:
I found a number of bronzes spanning the first to fourth centuries A.D. from my sites around Hertfordshire and Essex. Many of the bronzes were 3rd century (those from the house of Constantine being the most common) which is typical of many romano british sites in the South. One site produced a higher concentration of the earlier bronze coins than average, indicating that the site saw considerable use in the 1st and 2nd Century The three larger coins above are sestertii and are typical 1st/2nd century bronzes. Many of the bronze coins do not survive well in the soil but quite are few have recognisable emperors and legends. Some of the coins were minted in Britain (I have seen the London mintmark “PLN” on some of the coins), others were brought in from France and other parts of the Roman Empire.
Various Roman bronze coins
Sestersius
Sestersius
Sestersius
Constantine
Constantine
Constantine

Non-metallic Items
Pieces of Roman pottery
Another piece of pottery. This is a high status piece called “Samian” ware and was probably imported.
A number of roof tiles have been found in the field. This one is slightly more unusual in that it has incised lines across it. I am still trying to find out what they were used for.

Pieces of coloured glass, probably Roman. Some from vessels, other flat pieces from windows

The left hand piece is highly decorated and came from a stream near a roman town in Essex

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