Matching slabs of stone from Roman Britain town found by archaeologists more than a century apart

This article originally appeared on Culture24.

Slab sections found in 2013 belonged to sign Boudica could have destroyed, confirm experts

Two fragments of a building sign in Roman Hampshire, spelling out the name of the French tribe who founded the town of Silchester during the 1st century BC, have been reunited by astonished archaeologists after being discovered more than a century apart.

Lengthy expert analysis has confirmed a piece of stone inscribed with the letters ‘ba’, found during the final season of excavations in the Roman Town in 2013, as a match for a slab found at Silchester in 1891, reading ‘At’. Together, the inscriptions spell At(e)ba(tum) – a reference to the Artrebates people, who may have seen their sign destroyed by Boudica around 2,000 years ago.

“Archaeology never ceases to amaze,” admits Professor Mike Fulford, from the University of Reading's Department of Archaeology, who holds a strong affection for the trenches excavated by the team during the past three years.

“Matching pieces which were discovered over 100 years apart to a 2,000-year-old object is incredibly rare – perhaps happening only once or twice in the UK before.

“The 2013 piece is special in its own right - evidence of very early destruction of a monumental building in the mid or mid-to-late 1st century AD in Britain is exceptional - but little did we know about what was about to come to light.

“We now know what the bottom line of the sign reads, but the top line remains a mystery. It’s a tantalising thought that this might link to Nero himself, who is known to have commissioned major building projects in Silchester.

“Our work to uncover the origins of Silchester continues next year – perhaps a name could emerge. It’s unlikely, but this story goes to show that that when it comes to archaeology, anything is possible.”

The sign is thought to have been constructed with marble from Purbeck in Dorset, making it a commemoration of the construction of a “significant” building or a dedication to a deity.

Dr Roger Tomlin, an authority on Roman Britain inscriptions, confirmed the pieces bore the same style and size of lettering, as well as mirroring the dimensions of the slab.

Professor Fulford’s team followed the path of the original Victorian excavators, who had hoped to unearth a bath house.

“This methodology – of walking and digging in Victorian footsteps – proved to be an extremely successful one and allowed us, with the minimum of new excavation, to understand further the Victorian campaigns and methods of excavation, as well as determining at least three phases of Roman and post-Roman occupation of this part of the insula.

“We returned in 2015 to the north-east corner of Insula III. We hoped, by implementing our established methodology of Victorian shadowing, to uncover further evidence for the early Roman palatial structure, misidentified by the Victorians as a ‘bath house’, which we had exposed in 2013 and 2014.

“The first week of excavations in 2015 revealed several things fairly rapidly to our team of volunteers.

“For a start, the Victorians had been fairly brutal in their excavation techniques and had employed a methodology which resembled the path of a modern-day bulldozer.

“But silver linings and all that – the excavators of 1891 had avoided and outlined the extent of the spoil heap of the Basilica-Forum excavators of the 1860s, who had placed an enormous and intimidating mound of soil from their forum excavations all along the western edge of the North-South Roman street.

“This meant that late Roman and potentially post-Roman undisturbed deposits were preserved intact beneath the outline of this spoil heap – something of a holy grail for Silchester archaeologists, who have been long intent on illuminating the final years of the Roman town.”

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Three places to discover Roman Britain at

Ribchester Roman Bath-House Site, Preston
The Roman fort at Ribchester covers an area of about seven acres, of which about a third has been destroyed by the erosion of the river. Excavation at various times and dates has revealed details of the fort defences, its internal buildings and the external civilian settlement or vicus. Portions of the granaries and bath house are still exposed to view.

Great North Museum Hancock, Newcastle
An interactive model of Hadrian's Wall enables visitors to discover the detailed history of this amazing fortification as well as finding out about all the forts, milecastles and associated museums that can be visited today. The gallery includes a wealth of archaeological finds and visitors can hear stories of life on the Wall from the people who actually lived at the time.

The Barber Institute of Fine Arts, Birmingham
This exhibition uses money to explore and question our deep-seated familiarity with the Roman Empire’s imagery. Britain is not the only nation, empire or state to channel ancient Rome in this way: the Barber’s excellent collection of coins from the Byzantine Empire – as well as examples from Hungary, Georgia and Armenia – illustrate both the problems and possibilities of being genuine heirs of Rome.

Source: http://www.culture24.org.uk/history-and-heritage/archaeology/art541257-slab-sections-roman-britain-silchester-archaeology-university-reading