Emergency treatment of a Roman hoard - RAMM

The surprise discovery of an important Roman burial group, just before Christmas 2009, meant conservators Andrew, Kirstie and Rowena rushed to carry out emergency treatment to stabilize the finds over the Christmas break. The burial group contained a large upturned broken vessel and a group of two further vessels covered by a shale board. Unusually, one of the two covered vessels was intact. The larger broken vessel was treated before Christmas whilst the remaining finds are currently undergoing treatment in the lab.

April 2010 Update.

The next phase in the conservation of the Roman hoard is complete. All of the vessels have been excavated revealing some interesting discoveries. The smallest vessel contained very little archaeology, with only small fragments of charcoal. However the large vessel (x-rayed at the airport) was a different matter and can now be identified as an ossuary.

 Underneath an initial layer of stones I found LOTS of bone. Most of the bone was fragmentary and hard to identify and showed signs of being burnt. However some of the larger pieces were clearly sections of lower mandible (jaw bone), what appear to be skull fragments and some ribs.

I also found a significant piece of Roman glass, the top piece of an unguent bottle. It shows signs of melting around the rim, and the bulb from the bottom is missing.

 An image of the neck of an Unguent bottle discovered during the excavation.

Among the bones there was also a tooth which is not human, it is much too large! I also excavated 44 separate iron items, ranging in size from a small ball shaped fragment to some relatively large pieces, one being approximately 7cm long which is rather unusual for a cremation. All of these are extremely encrusted, so I X-rayed them in the RAMM X-ray unit to help with identification. They and they all look suspiciously like nails!

X-Ray of some of the excavated iron items.

 As the layers of bone and iron deposits were removed, each layer had to be documented and photographed. The amount of cremation material found inside meant it took over 48 hours to excavate.

An image taken during the excavation process of the vessels contents.

The bone fragments will now be examined an osteoarchaeologist who will be able to give us more information on the human remains, for example the persons age or gender.

February 2010

The image above shows Kirstie taking the large intact vessel to be x-rayed at the airport. RAMM conservation team is currently working on the group containing the intact vessel and shale board. The shale board is extremely fragile and fragmentary and will be described in a separate ‘Tale’.

The larger of the two vessels was too big for our x-ray machine in the Conservation Lab. So on 10th February, Kirstie took this pot, which is whole and unbroken, to Exeter International Airport, where security staff allowed us to use their state-of-the-art cabin baggage x-ray equipment to scan the vessel and examine its contents.

The x-rays have shown a glimpse of what is inside and this will help Kirstie when she comes to excavate the vessel. The x-ray confirmed the vessel used to contain cremated human remains for burial. Amongst the soil is a mass of dense material thought to be ash from the cremation. Near the bottom of the vessel are several mysterious ‘curved’ shapes. These maybe larger fragments of bone, or possibly metal objects. We won’t know for certain until the vessel has been excavated.

Cullompton Dig site, courtesy of South West Archaeology Ltd.

The vessel has a very narrow neck which means that the excavation will be a delicate operation. All of the material removed from the vessel, including the soil, any fragments of bone and any other objects will be kept for specialists to study. Each layer that is removed will be recorded with drawings and photographs.

 A huge thank you to all of the amazing staff at Exeter International Airport!

 More news on the excavation of this vessel, the shale board and the second smaller vessel later in February.

December 2009

The largest broken vessel was first x-rayed at RAMM to investigate whether it contained a cremation or any metal objects. Due to the density of the vessel contents the x-rays showed no interesting features. The vessel was mapped out and labelled on clear ‘Melinex’ film. Then Kirstie and Andrew began excavating the contents.

 They carefully documented the removal of the soil in stages called ‘spits’. The spits varied in depth because a new spit was started when they came across something interesting or needed to remove a shard.

 When they were not working on the vessel it was kept damp by spraying the surface with a solution of distilled water and Ethanol. This is done to prevent any mould growth and to stop the Devon clay soil from drying out, and becoming very hard. The excavation process was made easier by keeping the soil damp.

 When a shard was removed it was numbered, and cleaned and then left to dry out.

 Andrew and Kirstie didn’t find any cremation material in the fill, just a couple of stones, and a very small square cut piece of stone possibly a ‘tessera’ (small piece of mosaic). The vessel is now stable, safe and awaiting reconstruction.