It is the end of the week for Area A. What started out slowly due to rain and miserable weather ended with an amazingly rare find that earned a brand new volunteer the first bottle of champagne for this year's dig season. The reason for the champagne is a congratulatory gesture by the archaeologists for a truly top notch find. The bit of painted glass vessel that Linda found today is definitely worth the moniker of top notch. The painted glass is a rare find in Britain, possible even unique to Vindolanda. The style is termed "gladiator glass" because the scene is of gladiators in their kit. A piece of similar size is in the museum at Vindolanda but is from a different vessel. Hopefully more will turn up next week. The glass is dated 215-270 AD. Linda also found an intaglio which I was unable to get a picture of. It is a small gem meant to fit in a ring and is carved such that if you were to impress it into wax you would get the design. The gem is a shade of blue and has a scene of a shepherd, possibly, milking an animal, maybe a sheep or goat.
The next picture is of a melon bead which is a form of glass jewelry. This bead is in half and would have been decently large when whole. It is a beautiful shade of green with bands of darker green running through the glass. Just amazing the quality of craftsmanship by Roman artists 1800 years ago. Similar types of beads were being made in the 1500's and 1600's by the Spanish as trade items to the native Americans. The Spanish were probably using the same ideas as the Romans those hundreds of years before.
3 comments:
WOW! Matt these are awesome. The colors in the glass look like someone just drew them with crayons or something. I do hope the weather gets better and that next week you are able to find some more impressive objects in the area where you are digging. It is just amazing to look back through your photos and see how much you have found compared to the few shards of pottery we found in the week we dug last year! What a difference digging deeper makes! I'm asking the powers that be to hold up on the rain for your birthday! Me and 'Zael miss you!
How exciting for Linda to find such a piece on her first dig experience. Congratulations to her!! Can you give us some sense about how big and for what use this piece of glass would have been intended? It appears to be clear glass with painted (fired?) figures. Maybe with a little luck you will find something so outstanding for your birthday, Sunday. :-) Mom
The painted glass vessel is most likely a cup or goblet in size. The diameter would be around 4" from what I could tell. I didn't get to hold it or measure it. The paint is applied before a final glazing which helps protect the paint and give such vibrant colors. The glass vessel piece already in the museum is dulled in color because it was found in a ditch and had lots of water erosion.
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