There have been absolutely spectacular posts in this blog hop already, and I've loved visiting all of the author blogs that have posted contributions! Here is the last one from me for this month of June...
Vindolanda
Hands!
Fantastic
Find…
Towards
the end of June 2018, The Vindolanda Trust indicated in a press release that a
significant discovery had been made only a few weeks into that year’s summer excavation
season at Vindolanda Roman Fort, Northumberland, England. (The 26th May may have been the actual find date)
By
the 30th June 2018, the news had travelled worldwide, many of
the sources declaring that the Vindolanda excavations had excelled once again.
Less than four inches long (10 cm), a child-size hand was found five feet under
the ground in ditch-fill left from the Severan era (c.AD 208-212).
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| photo-Vindolanda Trust |
Caked
with dirt, the item was cleaned to reveal it was of very high-quality lead-weighted
bronze, with incredibly good detail especially on the palm. At the base of the
palm is a hole, deliberately there to hold another object which may have been
even more precious – possibly an effigy of the god Jupiter Dolichenus.
Though
it has no inscription, it’s possible that the Vindolanda hand was attached to a
pole and may have been used for ceremonial purposes during the worship of the
god Jupiter Dolichenus, the staff possibly dipped to bless devotees. Hands
similar to this artefact, with inscriptions dedicated to Jupiter Dolichenus,
have been found from the Roman era and were used for votive purposes – though
they have generally been larger.
The
fact that the hand was found near the northern wall of the 3rd
century fort is also significant since, in 2009, an altar stone dedicated to
Jupiter Dolichenus was discovered in the remains of a shrine at this location. The
archaeologists at Vindolanda had originally thought that the temple treasures
had been removed in the Roman era and were delighted to have further proof of worship of the deity.
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| Altar to Jupiter Dolichenus at Vindolanda. |
The
god Jupiter Dolichenus has often been depicted as standing on a bull, holding a
double-headed axe raised high in one hand and a thunderbolt in the other. The
origins of the mystery cult of Jupiter [Optimus Maximus] Dolichenus are vague,
but some scholars believe the Romans ‘acquired’ the god from eastern worship
and moulded it to their own requirements. This was not uncommon in the Roman
pantheon. Little has been attested regarding the worship of Jupiter Dolichenus because
it’s thought that the god was not worshipped in the open way of the public
Roman gods. Like other cults it appears that initiation was required. Both
men and women may have officially worshipped Jupiter Dolichenus, and the cult
was possibly open to people from different levels of society. As such, it may have
been favoured by members of the Roman military.
The
Roman cult worship of Jupiter Dolichenus appears to have gained popularity in
the second century, though it reached a peak during the Severan era when a number
of altars, found across the Roman Empire, were dedicated to the god.
In
c. AD 208, Emperor Severus paid a visit to Britannia. He was accompanied by his
sons, Caracalla and Geta, and a very large retinue. There had been unrest and
some degree of disobedience on the part of the Maeatae tribal federation of Caledonia.
Severus marched northwards from Eboracum (York) with upwards of 40,000 soldiers
he had amassed for the task, to teach the northern tribes a salutary lesson
they would not easily forget. Recent theories point towards genocide. In preparation for Severus’ northern campaign, many of the forts in the Hadrian’s Wall area (which was the
current frontier) were renovated and/or rebuilt. The Vindolanda Severan Fort is
one of them.
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| Emperor Septimius Severus |
A
find like the ‘Dolichenus’ hand is incredibly significant, yet, is it the most
significant find from the site at Vindolanda? Ask the resident archaeological team
and they may have a different opinion. Recently, some of the team were asked to
nominate their 10 favourite finds and it was no surprise that other ‘hand’ finds
rated equally as highly as the bronze Dolichenus hand.
The
nine forts at Vindolanda span the years from approximately AD 85 through to the
end of the Roman era c. 410, though the last fort may have had some form of
continued occupation after that. Fabulous material has been uncovered at the Vindolanda
site over the last few centuries. However, the bulk of the most successful excavations
have been since the Birley family bought the site in 1930s. Due to the anoxic
soil conditions, and more sophisticated archaeological techniques, the volume
of impressive finds has increased enormously during the last three decades.
So,
what are the other popular ‘hand’ finds?
In
2017, two boxing gloves (not a pair) were found by the team led by Dr. Andrew Birley.
The leather bands date to c. AD 120 (Hadrianic era) and were thought to have been
used in training, or promoting fighting skills, rather than for ‘killing an opponent’
purposes. The bands were neatly folded into a ‘pouch’ into which the hand was
inserted, and the leather packed with natural material for shock absorbance.
Some of the oldest finds at the Vindolanda site date back to the earliest wooden forts and are hugely significant in giving us an idea of what life was like on the frontier, for the soldiers who garrisoned the forts. For many years now, more and more of the famous ‘Vindolanda Tablets' have been uncovered from really-deep under ground level. Many of them give day-to-day mentions of goods being requested from, or sent to, other forts in the Hadrian’s Wall area and list deployment duties of the soldiers.
One of the best known of the wooden ‘postcard size’ tablets is an incredible example of the socialising that went on between fort inhabitants. The birthday invitation from Claudia Severa, wife of Aelius Brocchus (it’s unknown which fort he commanded), to Sulpicia Lepidina, wife of Flavius Cerialis the commander of Vindolanda c. AD 100, gives proof that the wives of the high-ranking commanders were living in the early forts in the Hadrian’s Wall area. (This invitation was, of course, sent some 20 years before Hadrian’s Wall was built.)
One of the best known of the wooden ‘postcard size’ tablets is an incredible example of the socialising that went on between fort inhabitants. The birthday invitation from Claudia Severa, wife of Aelius Brocchus (it’s unknown which fort he commanded), to Sulpicia Lepidina, wife of Flavius Cerialis the commander of Vindolanda c. AD 100, gives proof that the wives of the high-ranking commanders were living in the early forts in the Hadrian’s Wall area. (This invitation was, of course, sent some 20 years before Hadrian’s Wall was built.)
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| Vindolanda Tablets- Wikimedia Commons |
Another
spectacular ‘hand’ example (and I’m stretching it a little bit now) is part of
the ‘Verecundus’ letter archive. The 2017 ‘dig’ season produced yet another
pile of thin slivers of ink-stained wood. When restored, one particular letter
again hit the Archaeology headlines since it was written by Iulius Verecundus, who is
known to be the commander of both the original, and the second wooden fort at Vindolanda
from c. AD 85. Letters to Verecundus were already in the Vindolanda archives, but this new one is said to be written by his very 'hand'.
That ancient letter from almost 2,000 years
ago was to be put on display at the Vindolanda site in 2020, but with COVID 19
altering many plans this may have been delayed.
And
this leads me to another incredible find at Vindolanda. How did those Ancient
Roman matrons know which day was which? How would Sulpicia Lepidina know when
to set out for the fort where Claudia Severa lived, to go to the birthday party?
We know that the ancient Romans were incredibly organised, but evidence of
their ‘time-keeping’ is thin on the ground. However, an amazing fragment was
found which accounts for some theories as to how they recorded time and calendar
days - though since the date for the object is for the 3rd or 4th
century, it’s still unknown what Claudia Severa would have used!
The
Roman military observed festival and harvest times. Their smallest unit of time
was the hour and there were 12 hours in a day. This meant that from sunrise to sunset
the day was split into 12 parts, the hours of darkness from sunset to sunrise also
split into 12 parts. Naturally, when living in a much more northerly location
the length of day varied according to the season, so in summertime at Vindolanda
the daylight duration was very different from a fort in Southern Gaul.
By
the time the first Vindolanda forts were built (from c.AD 85) the Romans were using
the Julian Calendar of 12 months, with varying lengths of days. Clocks and calendars,
of different styles had been invented well before the end of the 1st
Century (AD), and in a fixed location there
may have been a ‘calendar’ painted or engraved on a wall in a fortress town for
public use. Though, that may not have been the case in the first wooden forts built
in Vindolanda. Nevertheless, the military while on campaign had to have
something portable, and the fragment found at Vindolanda goes a way towards possibly explaining
how they managed to organise themselves so efficiently.
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| Vindolanda Museum |
The
fragment found is of a perpetual annual calendar style, and not set to any
particular year. Only a few examples of such ‘calendars’ have been found, so
far. A Celtic calendar was found at Coligny (1897) and at Grand, France, a Roman
register of months was found in 1866. Including the fragment from Vindolanda, the
three are all very different though indicate that there may have been different
methods used to calculate days and months, and the hours of a day - perhaps
especially in more remote locations. The Vindolanda fragment has the month of
September clearly punched onto the copper. K represents the kalends on
the 1st; abbreviations N nonae for the 5th; and I idus
for the 13th and *(AE aequinoctum) the autumnal equinox. Using
the fragment dimensions as a guide, the original would have been a disc of
about 12 inches in diameter. Every two days a peg would have been moved into
the next hole to indicate the correct date. The relatively small size indicates
it may have been for personal use, e.g. the commander of the fort, rather than
for the garrison in general.
When
I booked this slot on this Historical Blog Hop months ago, my plan was to have
loads of photographs from a Vindolanda visit I was organising in mid-June.
Covid 19 cancelled that plan, but I will go back to Vindolanda as soon as it is
feasible. Instead, I’ve had to acquire my images from the public domain.
My
last image from Vindolanda isn’t a ‘hand’ but a mouse. In 1993, a large leather
bag full of bundles of leather offcuts was found in the commander’s house of a
later fort (period AD 105-130). It went into storage and because of the COVID 19
lockdown restrictions, the museum staff had the opportunity to have another
browse. One of the many items had been carved into a realistic looking little
mouse.
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| Vindolanda mouse |
Was
some soldier using it as a prank to scare a fellow soldier who had a horror of
mice? (Hopefully not someone on duty in the granaries which apparently had a huge
problem with mice đ)
Or
was it fashioned as a toy for a child of the fort, but was never used?
It's definitely known that there were children at the early forts, since loads of child-size shoes have been discovered, making up only a tiny fraction of the thousands of shoes and boots already removed from the anoxic soil of Vindolanda.
I'm totally fascinated by Vindolanda and by Roman Britain in general. That accounts for why my Celtic Fervour Saga series is set between AD 71 to AD 90, in northern Roman Britain. Book 5 - Beathan the Brigante - has Vindolanda featuring as one of the Roman forts that hostage Beathan 'visits' (due for publication Aug 20th 2020). I've also written about the campaigns of Emperor Severus and son Caracalla in The Taexali Game, a time-travel historical.
This post is specially written as part of the Historical Writers Forum Summer Blog Hop and the blog hop will continue in July.
Next
up tomorrow on the blog hop is Judith Arnopp who will be writing about the
Dissolution of the Monasteries and The Pilgrimage of Grace. That will be another fabulous
post in this series, and one not to miss!
I hope you have enjoyed this taster of the Vindolanda Fort site. There are so many other incredible finds from the 9 forts that it would take me many blog posts to cover them all.
If you have any questions for me, please pop them in the comments box.
SlĂ inte!
If you have any questions for me, please pop them in the comments box.
SlĂ inte!
