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Important Iron Age settlement discovered: Warboys, Cambridgeshire
The 10-acre (four-hectare) site in Cambridgeshire was excavated by Oxford Archaeology East in preparation for a housing development by Bellway Homes. “What makes this site really significant is we have evidence of early Saxon occupation mingled with the latest Roman remains,” said Mr Macaulay, deputy regional manager for Oxford Archaeology East. Other finds include Saxon pottery, beads, worked antler and metalworking residues. Signs of Roman rural industry include a 15ft corn dryer and kilns, as well as Roman pottery. According to Macaulay: “This a rare example of the Roman to Saxon transition in the east of England.” The finds include eight roundhouses, some of which date back to about 100BC, three crouched human…
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Vindolanda Altar to Jupiter Dolichenus
This past July a Roman altar dedicated to Jupiter Dolichenus was discovered in the excavations of the former Roman fort Vindolanda. Vindolanda is near modern Chesterholm, England, just south of Hadrian’s Wall. The altar, weighing roughly 1.5 tons, is carved stone. One side bears a relief image of a jar and a patera, a shallow dish frequently used in religious rituals involving sacrifice. The opposite side depects a male figure in Roman clothing standing on the back of a bull. He bears a thunderbolt in one hand, and a battle axe in the other. A third side bears an inscription in Latin. The text reads: I.O.M. Dolocheno Sulpicius Pu…
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Cocidius
The BBC Web site is reporting the discovery of a 2000 year old carving of the British warrior-god Cocidius on Hadrian’s Wall, in Northumberland near Chester’s Fort. The language of the article, and of articles on the Web, implies that this “northern god,” as the BBC puts it, was Germanic. The carving, as you can sort of tell from the image, shows a figure with a shield in his outstretched left hand, and a sword or spear in his right; the sort of deity you’d expect Romans stationed in the cold hinterlands of Northumbria to favor. Cocidius is quite Celtic, and is in fact, British or Brythonic. His name contains…
