Fragment of Augustus statue found in German stream

[JGolomb]

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Hesse unveils fragments of Roman emperor statue found in stream

 

Published: 27 Aug 09 15:55 CET

Online: http://www.thelocal.de/sci-tech/20090827-21537.html

 

Hessian Science Minister Eva K

[Centurion-Macro]

20,000...that seems like a lot of artifacts for one place.

[Melvadius]

20,000...that seems like a lot of artifacts for one place.

 

Depends how and what they have been counting. Much will depend on the period and location as to what will be there to be found and what the arcaheologists working the site will record.

 

The site where I have recently been excavating appears to be a major Romano-British temple complex but with middle and late-Iron Age antecedents and some earlier material also turning up which has been excavated for 4-5 weeks every year since 2001. The numbering sequence for 'small finds' which are artifacts that have been deemed important enough to log their actual find spot (e.g jewellry, coins, flint tools and worked bone) is now well up into the 6-7,000 range. In comparison 'bulk finds' (e.g. most pottery fragments, bricks and 'debotage' - residue from making flint tools) run into multi-thousand figures every year.

 

Melvadius

[JGolomb]

20,000...that seems like a lot of artifacts for one place.

 

Depends how and what they have been counting. Much will depend on the period and location as to what will be there to be found and what the arcaheologists working the site will record.

 

The site where I have recently been excavating appears to be a major Romano-British temple complex but with middle and late-Iron Age antecedents and some earlier material also turning up which has been excavated for 4-5 weeks every year since 2001. The numbering sequence for 'small finds' which are artifacts that have been deemed important enough to log their actual find spot (e.g jewellry, coins, flint tools and worked bone) is now well up into the 6-7,000 range. In comparison 'bulk finds' (e.g. most pottery fragments, bricks and 'debotage' - residue from making flint tools) run into multi-thousand figures every year.

 

Melvadius

 

 

Melvadius - very cool. Are you a professional archaeologist? Where is this dig?

[Melvadius]

Melvadius - very cool. Are you a professional archaeologist? Where is this dig?

 

Not a professional arcaheologist or working full time ain arcaheology although I have been studying archaeology for a few years now.

 

The site where I have been excavating whenever I've had a chance iover the last few years s the Marcham/ Frilford Romano-British Temple complex near Abingdon (south of Oxford). Details at:

 

http://www.arch.ox.ac.uk/VRP1.html

 

 

Melvadius

[JGolomb]

Melvadius - very cool. Are you a professional archaeologist? Where is this dig?

 

Not a professional arcaheologist or working full time ain arcaheology although I have been studying archaeology for a few years now.

 

The site where I have been excavating whenever I've had a chance iover the last few years s the Marcham/ Frilford Romano-British Temple complex near Abingdon (south of Oxford). Details at:

 

http://www.arch.ox.ac.uk/VRP1.html

 

 

Melvadius

 

 

Melvadius - Well this is just downright cool. I've been looking for a fun dig for myself for the past couple of years, but haven't found the right kind of thing. I'm a much bigger fan of "world" history than U.S. and, well, I live in the U.S. so that makes things a little more difficult. :-)

 

So I have to ask...what have you found?

[Melvadius]

Melvadius - Well this is just downright cool. I've been looking for a fun dig for myself for the past couple of years, but haven't found the right kind of thing. I'm a much bigger fan of "world" history than U.S. and, well, I live in the U.S. so that makes things a little more difficult. :-)

 

So I have to ask...what have you found?

 

The excavations are still ongoing so there is no final report that I can point you to however the interim reports for each year which detail trench by trench what has been found are available via the previous link at the bottom of the page.

 

In broad terms what we have found so far is possible evidence for continuity from Iron Age if not Bronze Age activity leading up to the construction of a Romano-British temple complex comprising a temple within a temenos (sacred enclosure) along with what was probably a semi-amphitheatre and at least one altar. The current thinking is that the 'semi-amphitheatre' doesn't appear to have been used for gladiatorial combat - there is no evidence for staging being built on the embankment rather it was probably used for some form of religous activity in the sunken centre fo the semi-amphitheatre the precise nature of which can only be guessed at.

 

If you mean what I have found personally the tally includes a few personal items including bone hair pins and a couple of copper pins along with a lot of broken ceramic items, bones and teeth and a few other metallic objects. However what I am probably most proud of finding, to most people wouldn't seem very much, but archaeologically is really quite important.

 

A couple of years back I found and then helped excavate the foundations of a Roman wall next to the semi-amphitheatre. When we excavated it we found that the wall contained the remains of at least a third of a pot which had been deliberately built as a stack into the foundations. Because the particular style of pot was made in only two places in Roman Britain (London and then at a later date copied in Oxfordshire), when the pottery fabric is fully analyised it will become the 'teminus post quem' for the walls construction - i.e. the earliest possible date for the wall being built. [The London manufacturing period was around a century before the pottery style was copied by Oxford Ware.]

 

As we are dealing with a site where there are no inscribed stones having something like this which can provide specific dating evidence for part of the sites construction and use is very important.

 

Melvadius