Tag Archives: archaeology

A Roman town near to Hadrian’s Wall in Northumberland

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HADRIANS WALL WAS constructed by the Romans in about 122 AD. Its purpose was to separate Roman Britain to the south of it from the ‘barbarians’ who lived north of it. Before it was built, they built a fort at a point where Dere Street, a major Roman road that ran in a north-south direction met Stane Road, a road that before the construction of Hadrian’s Wall marked the northernmost boundary of Roman Britain. This fort, established in the 80s AD, was called Coria, for short, and its full name might have been Corstopitum or Corie Lopocarium or, even, Coriosopitum, Corsopitum or Corsobetum. The site where they built the fort is near the town of Corbridge in Northumberland. Archaeological evidence suggests that the site of Coria had been occupied in the Iron Age, long before the Romans arrived.

After the construction of Hadrian’s Wall and its forts, Coria ceased to be a military centre, and began to be developed as a Roman town for civilians. It is believed from archaeological investigations that the town had temples, granaries, a fountain house, and a civic forum. Additionally, the place had residential buildings, both grand and modest. The town served as a supply centre for the military as well as being a market place for the lead, iron, and coal mined in the neighbourhood. After the Romans left Britain, their town fell into decline. Nearby Corbridge was founded by the Anglo-Saxons sometime after the Romans had cleared out of England.

It was not until 1861 that the first excavations that revealed remains of the town were discovered by Mr Coulson. Between 1906 and 1914, more extensive archaeological work was carried out by Francis J Haverfield (1860-1919) and Leonard Woolley (1880-1960). After working at Coria, Woolley travelled to the Middle East, where his excavations in Mesopotamia were to make him famous. Later, the site of the Roman town became Britain’s first training site for young archaeologists.

Today, the remains of the town, mostly stonework, are in the care of English Heritage. The site is well-cared for and labelled with useful information panels, without which one might have little idea about the nature of what one can see. Next to the sight, there is a small museum filled with beautiful artefacts found in and near the town. Most of them are stone carvings, and all of them are well displayed. Whereas a visit to Coria does not give one as much of an impression of Roman architecture, as does, say Ostia near Rome, it is a pleasant place to visit and quite thrilling to consider that you are in what was once the northermost part of the Roman Empire.

The town clerk who helped to save a wall built by the Romans

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HADRIANS WALL WAS commenced in 122 AD to fulfil the order of Emperor Hadrian, who wanted to separate Roman Britain from the so-called barbarians who lived in what is now Scotland and parts of Northumberland. The wall stretched 73 miles west from Bowness-on-Solway to Wallsend (next to Newcastle) on the River Tyne. Soon after it was built, it began to decline, and over the years, people used some of its stones to construct their own buildings.

Had it not been for the efforts of people like John Clayton (1792-1890), much of what we can see of Hadrian’s Wall today might have been lost forever. After having had a classical education, Clayton was a Town Clerk of Newcastle-on-Tyne and an antiquarian.

In 1796, John’s father, Nathaniel, bought the Chesters Eastate, through which part of Hadrian’s Wall runs. In its grounds, there stands a mansion, which was built in about 1771. After his father’s death in 1822, John inherited Chesters. John, who was keen on antiquities, excavated the Roman ruins on his land. These included what was left of a Roman fort known as ‘Cilurnum’. He also discovered the remains of a Roman Bridge that traversed to Tyne from the fort. After 1832, Clayton purchased other pieces of land on which there were remains of the Wall and its associated forts.

We visited Chesters, which is maintained by English Heritage. In addition to its well conserved remaims of the various parts of the Roman fort, there is a wonderful museum that contains many roman sculptures and inscribed stone discovered by Clayton. The museum, which is filled with many fine carvings, is delightfully old-fashioned. The museum was built after John Clayton’s death, but I am sure that he would have approved of the way his finds have been displayed.

discovering forgotten cities in India and memorable archaeologists

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CURRENTLY MANY MUSEUMS in the ‘Western World’ are pondering over the idea of returning some of their exhibits to the territories from where they were obtained. A controversial example of this quandary are the fragments from Athen’s Parthenon, which are known as the Elgin Marbles.

From 1899 to 1905, Lord Curzon was the Viceroy of British India. In her book “Finding Forgotten Cities”, Nayanjot Lahiri describes how Curzon was concerned about preserving and conserving India’s many archaeological and historical sites, and promoting the work of archaeologists in what was to become the Archaeological Survey of India (‘ASI’). Concerning artefacts removed from India, it was Curzon who arranged for some ancient artefacts to be returned from the British Museum to where they came from in India. The most important thing that Curzon did in relation to Indian archaeology was to appoint the archaeologist John Marshall (1876-1958) to supervise and plan archaeological activities within the Indian subcontinent. It is Marshall and his highly trained colleagues including many Indians such as Rakhaldas Banerji, DR Bhandarka, KN Dikshit, and DR Sahni, who are important protagonists in Lahiri’s story about how the extensive remains of Harrappan (or Indus Valley) civilisation came to be discovered. The book also includes much information about the Italian archaeologist Luigi Pio Tessitori (born 1887 in Udine, Italy, died 1919 in Bikaner, Rajasthan), whose discoveries eventually contributed much to the unravelling of the mystery of Harrapan civilisation.

Apart from the above-mentioned, Lahiri describes the lives and archaeological work of a whole host of other people working in India. She describes how the earlier archaeologists were fixated on finding remains of places mentioned in early texts including the Vedas, classical author’s histories of Alexander the Great’s incursions into the Indian subcontinent, Buddhist and Jain sources, and accounts by early Chinese travellers in India. When the remains of what is now recognised as the very old Harrapan civilisation (as early as about 3000 BC) began to be discovered, it was gradually realised that these were not compatible with the stories written in the ancient texts. Although at first nobody knew the age of these findings, the fact that they were discovered deeper beneath the ground than the artefacts that could be dated, Marshall and his colleagues believed that they had stumbled on remains from a time far earlier than had been hitherto discovered by archaeologists in India. Amongst these and at various different locations, seals inscribed with pictograms or symbols began to be discovered. Later, these seals became important in dating the Harrapan civilisation.

Lahiri’s well-documented, scholarly account reads like a thriller. Not only does she relate the story of the discovery of the Harrapan civilisation and the archaeologists who found it, but also she tells of the difficulties that Marshall encountered ensuring that the ASI was adequately funded. And she tells of the remarkable way that the ageing of the civilisation became possible after Marshall had published his findings with many illustrations in the widely read, non-scholarly Illustrated London News in 1924.

I never believed that I would read a book about archaeology and find it un-put-downable, but Lahiri’s fascinating book was just that. It is a book that should interest both archaeologists and lay readers. I began reading it soon after revisiting one of India’s major Harrapan sites, that at Dholavira in Kachchh (Gujarat), and I am pleased that I did.

Recording the terrain before and during its exploration by archaeologists

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WHEN ARCHAEOLOGISTS DISCOVER and then remove historical artefacts from the ground, the terrain in which they have lain for centuries or maybe millennia is changed forever, and irreversibly. For once an artefact is removed and/or the site is excavated to reveal its original features, no amount of effort can restore the site to what it was before it was investigated by archaeologists.

Given the permanent changes resulting from the activities of archaeologists, it is important that the appearance of the site is recorded before, during, and after the archaeological dig. To do this, photography is very useful.

Yesterday, 7 January 2025, we viewed an exhibition, “Archeo Logical Camera”. It is being held in a gallery at the Kara Hotel, a luxurious and beautifully designed establishment located on the Maidan (Parade Ground) at Fort Kochi. The exhibits consists of several artefacts dug up by archaeologists as well as photographs taken by Mohamed A, who graduated in Fine Arts at Trivandrum, Kerala.

The photographs, each of which is a work of art, are those he took while documenting archaeological digs in various parts of India. The pictures show, archaeologists at work, the sites where they worked before and during the digs, and artefacts both in their original locations and after excavation.

Not only were the photographs beautifully executed and interesting, but also the exhibition was superbly displayed. The show is a project by Aazhi Archives, and the artistic director is Riyas Komu.

This wonderful exhibition is NOT part of the 2025/26 Kochi Muziris art biennale. However, after having now seen many of the festival’s artistic offerings, I think that the quality and originality of “Archeo Logical Camera”, exceeds most of what is to be seen at the Kochi Muziris Biennale.

Wonderful Roman mosaics preserved near the Humber river

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KINGSTON UPON HULL (‘Hull’) did not exist as a significant settlement until several centuries after the Romans left Britain. However, the Romans built a road that ran north through Brough, which is west of Hull, to Malton (northwest of Hull), and beyond towards York. Along this road, at Horkstow and Brantingham, and at Rudston and Harpham, along a side road northeast of Hull, remains of buildings constructed by the Romans have been found and excavated by archaeologists. At each of these sites, large areas of Roman mosaics have been found.

The mosaics have been carefully moved to Hull and can be seen at the city’s Hull and East Riding Museum. There, they have been beautifully displayed. I do not think I have ever seen such a large collection of Roman mosaics as can be found in the museum. It is worth visiting Hull to view this remarkable set of mosaics. Although, in my view, the mosaics alone make the museum unmissable, there is much more to be seen in this superbly curated place.

Visitors to the museum, which specialises in archaeology, follow a route that leads from exhibits relating to prehistory to just after the English Civil War.  Each room or area along the way is designed to ignite interest in archaeology in the minds of everyone, from small children to adults. Every exhibit is labelled in language that is easy to understand, yet does not ‘dumb down’. Even if you enter the museum with little interest in archaeology and early history, you are bound to leave having become interested in these subjects.

Apart from the Roman mosaics, the museum contains several timber boats, the Ferriby vessels, that were built on the bank of the Humber in the Bronze Age. One of these is preserved in a special tank called the Boatlab, which contains equipment to preserve the ancient timber. It is believed the Ferriby boats are the earliest known form of seacraft made in Europe.

I have highlighted two aspects of this museum in Hull. They are the ‘icing on the cake’, but the rest of the cake is richly interesting. Many people disdain the idea of visiting Hull, but they are mistaken. The museum with its Roman mosaics is just one of many of the city’s relatively unknown but worthwhile attractions.

Roman recycling

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TOLLESBURY IN ESSEX on the Blackwater River estuary is a village just over 5 miles southeast of Tiptree, a small town close to the Wilkinson jam factory and museum. This charming village, where a good friend of ours lives, has a venerable parish church, St Mary the Virgin.

Roman bricks used to construct the arch above the south entrance of St Mary’s in Tollesbury, Essex.

In common with most of the parish churches we have visited during our extensive roamings around the English countryside, this church, whose construction had begun by the 11th century, contains a rich selection of interesting features. These are well described in a copiously illustrated booklet about the edifice published by the Friends of St Mary’s Tollesbury in early 2020. Amongst the interesting things we saw within St Mary’s, one of them particularly intrigued me: the incorporation of Roman bricks in the fabric of the church.

Archaeologists have uncovered the remains of a Romano-British cemetery near the village. They have concluded from their findings that in about 200 AD, there was a significant rural settlement located near Tollesbury at that time. Other remains are evidence that the district around the estuarine village has been the site of human activity since the Neolithic era (4000-2000 BC).

As if to prove that recycling is not simply a recent trend, the church of St Mary incorporates bricks made whilst the Romans occupied England. These can be seen clearly above the south doorway within the church. The 11th century arch above this portal is made entirely of recycled Roman bricks. Some more brickwork made with Roman bricks can be seen exposed above the gothic archway in the western wall of the nave, which is also part of the late 11th century bell tower.

Although the re-used Roman bricks have been ‘highlighted’ in St Mary’s, the structure of the parish church in the nearby village of Goldhanger also contains recycled Roman bricks. Making bricks at the time when these churches were built would have been far more laborious than making bricks using today’s industrial techniques. So, re-using bricks that had already been made would have been very sensible.

A cave underneath a seaside town in Devon

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LONG, LONG AGO, the land where Torquay now stands was below the Equator in the southern hemisphere. Shifting of tectonic plates over the millennia has moved it to where it is now. Along with this migration, a series of caves has also reached this location but far beneath the town, about 1 mile northeast of the Torquay Harbour seafront. The cave network known collectively as Kents Cavern has been open to the public since 1952. What makes it fascinating is that archaeologists have found, amongst other things, the earliest known human remains in Britain. Three types of hominid have made, use of these caves: Homo heidelbergensis (thrived roughly 750,000 to 200,000 years ago), Homo neanderthalensis (thrived from 400.000 to 40,000 years ago), and Homo sapiens (that is us today: we have been around since about 300,000 years ago). The two earlier forms of hominid lived or sheltered in the caves. Now, we, the current edition of this type of primate, merely explore the caves as archaeologists, and visit them as tourists.

The earliest evidence of recent exploration of the caves is some inscriptions found within them. William Pete scratched his name on a stalagmite in 1571 and Robert Hedges did the same in 1688. Scientific exploration of the caves began in the early 19th century. In 1824, the geologist Thomas Northmore (1766-1851) made the first recorded excavation in 1824. Since then, others have made systematic archaeological excavations and discovered the remains of our early ancestors, their tools, and the remains of animals that sheltered in the caves. Two notable explorers of these underground passages and caverns are The Reverend John MacEnery (1796-1841) and William Pengelly (1812-1893). The latter established his reputation as an archaeologist by his discovery of the hominid remains in Kents Cavern. In addition, his discoveries helped in to prove that the biblical chronology of the earth was incorrect.

In 1903, the caves were acquired by a carpenter, Francis Powe, who used them as a workshop for constructing beach huts for the seafront in Torquay. His son, Leslie, converted them into a tourist attraction by installing electric lighting and laying down concrete paths. The caves are now run by a member of the family, Nick Powe.

At first sight, the visitor complex with its shop and café seems unexceptional and rather too ‘touristy’ for my liking. Visitors are escorted within the caves in groups led by a guide. The tourist facilities give little or no clue as to the wonders that await visitors after they step into the parts of the cave system that are on display. We were guided by a knowledgeable man, who was able to make geology and archaeology both palatable and extremely comprehensible to us. Even if you had had no interest in these subjects prior to going on the tour, he was able to sow seeds of interest in these subjects during the tour. Not only did he relate the facts clearly, but he was able to recreate in our minds the nature of life in the caves as it was when our ancestors illuminated them with lamps consisting of fat impregnated moss or other vegetable matter in scallop shells, and when enormous wild bears and other creatures hibernated or roamed about in these dark spaces. In addition, he pointed out interesting features of the geology of the caves including, stalagmites and stalactites in various stages of their continuing formation. Throughout the tour, our guide explained the difficulties that early explorers of the cave encountered.

To conclude, a visit to Kents Cavern is both visually spectacular and of great interest. Having seen the place, I would say that a visit to Devon must include a wander through these caves.

Golden guesswork: the Scythians in Cambridge

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THE SCYTHIANS ROAMED around the steppes of Central Asia from about 800 BC to about 300 BC. I write “about” because very little is known for certain about this group of people, also known as the Saka-Scythians or Saka. My interest in the Scythians, who were dependant on horse riding for their not inconsiderable exploits including ruling most of Central Asia, was aroused by discovering that they used the double-headed eagle, a symbol that fascinates me, in their handiwork. So, it was with great excitement that I visited the special exhibition of Scythian gold at the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge. The show, “Gold of the Great Steppe”, is on until the 30th of January 2022.

The exhibition is well worth seeing. The gold and other items found in Scythian grave mounds in Kazakhstan are superb examples of sophisticated technology and fine craftsmanship and they are displayed beautifully. The labelling is clear and easy to read. However, what is very clear from what is written on these labels is that almost nothing concrete is known about the people who created the exhibits. The curators make numerous reasonable-sounding suggestions about the possible ways of life that the items suggest, but these seem to me to be mainly intelligent guesswork. The Scythians left no written records. What we know about them depends mainly on metallurgical and genetic findings, as well as a few linguistic studies. Various Ancient Greek writers have written about them, but their opinions were often biased against them. So, it is not surprising that visitors to the exhibition are left little wiser about the people who created the magnificent artefacts on display. Interspersed amongst the items found in the graves in Kazakhstan there are modern recreations of how the Scythians and their horses might have looked in life. I felt that these mock-ups were rather too speculative for my taste. That said, I was pleased to have seen the show.

A sea creature in stone at Richmond upon Thames

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ON A TERRACE that overlooks the River Thames at Richmond there is a curious souvenir of the past. The so-called Fish Marker Stone was dug up in the 20th century. It is named thus because there is a carved fish or sea creature on top of it. Now no longer visible because it has worn away, the stone’s inscription bore the words “To Westminster Bridge 14 3/4 miles”. The stone is believed to have marked a fare stage for boatmen carrying passengers along the river.

A lonely chimney

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A SOLITARY CHIMNEY stands in the middle of East Harptree Woods in the Mendip Hills of Somerset, not far from Bristol and Bath. This tall, not quite vertical, chimney and the surrounding uneven landscape is all that remains of the local tin and zinc mining activities in the area. Known as Smitham Chimney, this was built in the 19th century and was the exhaust for the toxic fumes created by the furnaces smelting lead-bearing materials. The unevenness of the surrounding area, now richly populated with a variety of trees, was caused by the pits and spoil heaps created during the era of mining activity. The chimney was built in 1867 and by 1870, the East Harptree Lead Works Co Ltd were producing about 1000 tons of lead per year (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smitham_Chimney,_East_Harptree).

Smitham Chimney

Today, the chimney stands amongst a fine collection of trees including conifers and birches, all growing in a sea of ferns and other bushes. Much of the woodland is mossy. Maintained by Forestry England, the Mendip Society, and Somerset County Council, the woodland has good, fairly level paths, easy on the feet. The place and its industrial archaeological feature make for a pleasant and interesting short excursion.