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Local metal detectorist David Hunt has been visiting the same field in Godstone in Surrey for the past 15 years, and in that time has discovered a huge collection of Roman finds. Around 600 coins, many of them of high value, have been recovered from the field, as well as a collection of brooches and other, more unusual items, including what looks like a metal sceptre handle.
Local archaeologists believe that the number and value of the finds means that they may have been deliberate offerings, pointing towards a possible Roman temple or religious site. The possible sceptre handle is similar to ones that have been found at another Roman religious site nearby and may have been used by priests.
The site is positioned close to a Roman road connecting London to the south coast and has never been excavated, although English Heritage did commission a geophysics survey. Local archaeologists have been wondering what lies beneath the surface for many years, and called in Time Team to help them find out.
It was a big challenge, in a very big field, and as usual, the Team had just three days to do it in.
Bringing out the sceptic
Mention of a possible Roman temple or religious site brought out the sceptic in the older hands on Time Team. The Team doesn't have a great record when it comes to Roman temples; in fact they've never actually found one.
Nevertheless, it did seem that the nature and value of the metal-detectorist finds at Godstone pointed towards them being deliberate offerings rather than casual losses. In particular, the coins – of which more than 600 have been discovered in this one field – were of disproportionately high denominations – 'the £5 and £20 notes of their day', according to Time Team Roman expert Guy de la Bédoyère. They also spanned virtually the whole of the Roman occupation, in a relatively even spread, suggesting that they had been deposited over a long period rather than in one or more individual hoards.
There were two particular concentrations of finds on which Time Team focused attention. It was thought that these might represent specific locations where the pagan Romans made offerings to their gods. But as the sceptics might have predicted, neither of them turned up concrete evidence of a temple or religious site.
This doesn't mean that there wasn't one there. Many pagan sacred sites would have left little evidence that they existed at all. They could have been centred on, for example, a shallow pool, a sacred tree or some other natural feature that has long since disappeared. The use of the term 'temple' is misleading because many such sites would not have had any significant or permanent structures associated with them.
Ritual pits and corn sheds
Brigid Gallagher did excavate a deep, narrow pit that may once have been the site of ritual offerings. It contained at least two sealed layers of burning, one of which contained a horse's jaw. According to Roman expert Mark Corney, in the south and south east of England there is a ritual tradition that starts before the Roman conquest of burying horse heads and jaws in pits. He said he could think of 'a number of examples from both the Iron Age and the Roman era where you might get a deposit of animal bone or pots capped by a layer of organic material or clay, followed perhaps by a sterile layer – and then the whole sequence starts again.'
Beyond Brigid's pit, however, there was nothing that could be tied to a specifically religious or ritual context. Indeed, although there was no shortage of potential targets identified on the geophysics surveys (Phil Harding excavated what might have been a corn-drying shed on one such 'hotspot'), and there were large quantities of Roman finds coming out of the trenches, there was no sign of any permanent settlement or structures.
A seasonal fair?
Guy de la Bédoyère had a theory as to why this might be. He pointed out that the site stood on the boundary between the territories of the Cantiaci and Atrebates. He thought it could have been the location of a seasonal market or trading fair between the two tribes, which perhaps came into being for just a short period each year, linked to the pagan equivalent of a medieval saint's day or feast day. These fairs would have left a lot of waste material – hence the large quantities of finds – and they could have had associated ritual activities, including making offerings to propitiate the gods.
On the road again
Once again, then, the quest for a Roman temple proved elusive. Time Team did find a great deal more to keep local archaeologists busy for many years to come, however – and the Team also made a discovery that may require redrawing our maps of what the area was like during the Roman period.
The Team had been puzzling over why the Roman remains at Godstone were concentrated some distance from the nearby Roman road between London and the south coast, rather than more immediately adjacent to it. The excavations over the three days provided a likely answer, because Time Team uncovered a major Roman road following the same line but much closer to the site itself. The excavation, further 'geofizz' surveys and Stewart Ainsworth's landscape investigations all pointed to the likelihood that the Roman road had been wrongly mapped and that Time Team had revealed its true course.
The reconstruction cameo for this programme was hosted by Andrew Lacey, a renowned sculptor, founder and specialist in archaeometallurgy. Andrew also produced the reconstruction Roman silver snake bracelet for the Warburton programme earlier in the 2007 series. The Time Team website caught up with Andrew to find out how he made the Roman sceptre.
What materials did you require for the sceptre at Godstone?
The sceptre was made from a wooden dowel, which was covered in thin brass strips held in place with iron or bronze pins. The handle and the figure of Mercury were cast in bronze from wax models.
What tools did you use and were they historically accurate?
The brass strips were embossed by pushing either wooden or metal tools into the surface. The figurehead of Mercury and the handle were cast in bronze but using the same method of making as the Warburton silver snake bracelet. All the methods used are historically accurate as time was taken in matching the evidence found on the artefacts to the reconstruction – also making sure that no material or techniques were more advanced than could have been used at the time.
What were the main steps in the process of making the sceptre?
First, the wooden dowel was cut and shaped. Then brass strips were punched and decorated using wooden and metal tools. These were twisted round the wood to cover it entirely, and held in place by small pins.
The handle and head of Mercury were formed as small versions first in sandy clay. These versions are called cores and are used to make the final cast hollow.
Onto these cores wax was modelled to make the finer version. Runners, vents and a funnel were attached to each piece and covered in more sandy clay to make the outer mould. The two moulds were dried and when all moisture was gone they were put in a fire to melt out all the wax. When this was done the moulds were taken out and propped up on the floor.
A crucible was put in the fire with bronze scraps in it and heated to 1050°C. This was later taken out using tongs, and the molten bronze poured into the moulds. Once cool the moulds were broken open and the castings removed.
At this point much work must be done to cut the runners, vent and funnel off and the surface of the metal polished up. Finally, the Mercury head and handle were secured to the wood with iron pins and a little pine resin.
What was the hardest part of the reconstruction?
The hardest part, as in the Warburton cameo, was drying the mould in wet conditions. The danger being that if the mould is not dry, when the molten bronze enters the mould moisture turns to steam and reacts violently. Therefore the mould can explode throwing all the molten metal into the air.
Would you change anything if you did the sceptre reconstruction again?
I would have liked to have done more work on embossing the brass strips, because it would have been interesting to have looked at the symbols used in the original Roman ones more closely.
Until the imposition of Christianity on the Roman empire in the 4th century AD, Roman religion and beliefs involved many different gods. Try our quick quiz to see how much you know about them.
In the Godstone programme, Time Team reconstructed a Roman priest's sceptre with a figurehead of the god Mercury. Whose son was he?
Jupiter and Juno
Jupiter and Venus
Jupiter and Maia
As well as being the god of commerce and speed, who else is Mercury identified with?
Thieves
Drunkards
Sloths
Who was the god of the domestic hearth-fire and one of the guardian deities of the Roman state?
Sol
Saturn
Vesta
What was the Roman name for the Earth Mother goddess?
Tellus
Gaia
Venus
Which Roman goddess of spring has a month named after her?
Maia
Mars
Aprilis
Which month, formerly called Quintilis, the Latin for fifth month, was renamed in honour of a mortal who became a god?
May
June
July
Answers here.
Channel 4 is not responsible for the content of third-party sites.
Roman Britain: A new history by Guy de la Bédoyère (Thames and Hudson, 2006) £24.95
In this lively, authoritative account, Guy de la Bédoyère puts the Roman conquest and occupation in the larger context of Romano-British society and how it functioned. Contains nearly 300 illustrations and dramatic aerial views of Roman sites, and brimming with the very latest research and discoveries.
Get this book
Pottery in Roman Britain by Guy de la Bédoyère (Shire Archaeology, 2000) £5.99
Time Team regular Guy de la Bédoyère provides an easy-to-follow guide to pottery in Roman Britain, allowing for quick identification of the common and not-so-common finds.
Get this book
Companion to Roman Britain by Guy de la Bédoyère (Tempus, 1999) hardback £25
This book is a comprehensive compilation of historical and epigraphic facts about Roman Britain and seeks to set the record straight about where facts end and opinions begin. Includes a complete breakdown of all military units, when and where they were stationed and so on, together with details of buildings, officials, administration and the first full list of the Gods of Roman Britain.
Get this book
A History of Roman Britain by Peter Salway (Oxford Paperbacks, 2004) £10.99
From the invasions of Julius Caesar to the unexpected end of Roman rule in the early fifth century AD and the subsequent collapse of society in Britain, this is the most authoritative and comprehensive account of Roman Britain ever published for the general reader. Peter Salway's book takes into account the latest research, including exciting discoveries of recent years.
Get this book
Roman Britain by Martin Millett (English Heritage, 2005) £14.99
Archaeologist Martin Millett examines the latest archaeological and historical sources to help us to understand the cultural, social and economic effects of 400 years of Roman rule.
Get this book
Imperial Possession: Britain in the Roman empire 54BC-AD409 by David Mattingly (Allen Lane History, 2006) £30
The centuries when Britain was under Roman occupation have always had a contradictory reputation. Generations of British readers were brought up to approve of the Roman empire as the model for their own empire, but equally it was embarrassingly clear that within the Roman empire Britain itself was merely an unattractive exploitation colony. David Mattingly's book draws on a wealth of new research to recreate this colonial Britain: a rebellious, disadvantaged place needing heavy garrisoning and highly vulnerable to political change in Rome.
Get this book
The Landscape of Roman Britain by Ken and Petra Dark (Sutton, 1998) paperback £10.99
The authors analyse and interpret archaeological evidence of rural life in Roman Britain and provide an overview of Romano-British agriculture, the impact of Roman towns and that of human and industrial activity on the landscape.
Get this book
Life in Roman Britain by Joan Alcock (Batsford/English Heritage, 1996) paperback £15.99
An excellent social history of life in Roman Britain covering food and drink, clothing, recreation, administration and religion. Richly illustrated.
Get this book
An Atlas of Roman Britain by Barri Jones and David Mattingly (Blackwell, 1993, 2001 edition) hardback £35
An amazing accumulation of archaeological evidence has been used to map every aspect of Roman life on a countrywide scale, including the distribution of Roman forts, towns, villas, potteries and quarries. Lots of additional plans and useful descriptions on each topic.
Get this book
Channel 4 is not responsible for the content of third-party sites.
Andrew Lacey
www.andrewlacey.com
Andrew Lacey is a renowned sculptor, bronze founder and archaeometallurgist, who carried out the reconstruction cameo of a Roman priest's sceptre for the Godstone programme. Andrew also reconstructed a silver Roman snake's head bracelet for the Warburton programme, which also featured in the 2007 series.
Metal detecting – helping to uncover archaeology
www.ourpasthistory.com/metal
This website, run by Time Team enthusiast Corinne Mills, contains a comprehensive guide to responsible metal detecting in England and Wales as well as some history and archaeology from both England and Scotland. The image gallery contains over 5,500 images taken in the UK and abroad of locations, places of interest and artefacts.
National Council for Metal Detecting
www.ncmd.co.uk/index.htm
The National Council for Metal Detecting website contains information on clubs, membership, the Treasure Act – in fact, just about everything you'd need to know about metal detecting and the NCMD.
Portable Antiquities Scheme
www.finds.org.uk
The Portable Antiquities Scheme is a voluntary recording scheme for archaeological objects found by members of the public. Every year many thousands of objects are discovered, many of them by metal-detector users, but also by people out walking, gardening or going about their daily work. Such discoveries offer an important source for understanding our past. This website provides background information on the Portable Antiquities Scheme, news and access to the PAS database of more than 60,000 finds and 18,000 images; from prehistoric flints to post-medieval buckles.
Other websites on the Roman era
In the Godstone programme, Time Team reconstructed a Roman priest's sceptre with a figurehead of the god Mercury. Whose son was he?
Jupiter and Maia
As well as being the god of commerce and speed, who else is Mercury identified with?
Thieves
Who was the god of the domestic hearth-fire and one of the guardian deities of the Roman state?
Vesta
What was the Roman name for the Earth Mother goddess?
Tellus
Which Roman goddess of spring has a month named after her?
Maia
Which month, formerly called Quintilis, the Latin for fifth month, was renamed in honour of a mortal who became a god?
July