The statue arm

The gilded bronze left hand and forearm found in a Roman drainage ditch during the Gresham Street excavation is one of only a dozen or so such bronze statue pieces ever found in Britain. It is one and a half times life size, and very finely worked. (According to the Museum of London: 'The nails, thumb and finger joints, knuckles and back of the hand are detailed and show a high level of competence in executing a naturalistic style.') So it must have been part of a statue representing someone very important – possibly even the emperor himself.

Archaeologists believe that the arm was most likely dumped in the ditch as a result of the statue being deliberately smashed, either in a rebellion or following the overthrow of an unpopular emperor. One possibility is that this took place after the emperor Nero's suicide in 68 AD.

The arm was found amidst hundreds of pottery sherds from Roman amphorae (storage vessels used for transporting wine, oil and other liquids), which seem to have been deliberately dumped in the ditch as part of a building project. These have been dated to around 70 AD, which would fit in with the statue being destroyed after Nero's death.

The arm was discovered by archaeologist Ben Savine of AOC Archaeology, who has left his permanent mark on it. 'Unfortunately, because we were winding down this area at the end of the week, we were hacking through at quite a rate and I smacked it with a mattock,' he says, just a little embarrassedly.