Catalogue of Wroxeter Antiquities in the Museum at Shrewsbury.

I. OBJECTS CONNECTED WITH THE ARRANGEMENT AND CONSTRUCTION OF THE HOUSES AND OTHER BUILDINGS.

1. Roofing flags, of micaceous sandstone, form generally hexagonal, with a hole for the nail.—See pl. IV., fig. 1.

2. Tiles of various kinds:—small square tiles, flue-tiles, roof-tiles, &c. Large oblong square tiles for bonding-courses in the walls, &c. Square tiles for making the pillars in the hypocausts.

3. Specimens of the concrete which covered the hypocaust, to the depth of eight inches or more, forming the floor of the apartment.

4. Eight different specimens of the tessellated, or mosaic, pavement, taken up as it was found, and framed.

5. Drawings of the same, made by Mr. George Maw, of Broseley, and presented by that gentleman to the Museum.

6. Sculpture in sandstone; a head of late Roman art, which appears to have formed part of the architectural ornamentation of a building.

7. Bases, capitals, and shafts of columns.

8. Stucco, covering the walls, coloured, plain, and with some formal patterns. One specimen, bearing the letters A. R. C. A., having formed part of an inscription on the wall. Tessellated ornamentation of the surface of a wall, dark and light tesseræ, so as to form an irregular pattern.

9. Umbilicus, or hinge for a door.

10. Iron bolts, shaped iron stancheons, and nails, for fixing roof and flue-tiles upon the walls.

11. Many tiles bearing the impression of the foot of domestic or wild animals,—some of the dog; other, of the sheep, pig, horse, and ox.

II. OBJECTS FOR DOMESTIC PURPOSES.

1. Pottery:—

a. Samian ware.

b. Upchurch pottery.

c. Durobrivian pottery.

d. Romano-Salopian ware, made of clay obtained from Broseley.

e. Pieces of red earthenware, probably made in Shropshire.

2. Glass:—

a. Fragments of flat or window glass.

b. Portions of bottles, &c., generally coloured, some opalescent.

c. Fragments of a cup, ornamented with spots of deep purple glass.

d. One green glass bottle, 6½ inches high, with narrow neck, found in the cemetery, quite entire.

e. A green glass jar, with wide mouth, about 5 inches high and 6 inches wide, also found in the cemetery. It was full of soil, everywhere penetrated by roots of plants.

f. Two metallic mirrors or specula, one in fragments, the other entire. They are of white metal, a compound of tin and copper, with a large proportion of the former.—(Cemetery.)

g. Three very pretty lamps. One bears the figure of Hercules, another that of a dolphin, a third that of a boy kneeling.—(Cemetery.)

h. A silver fibulæ.

3. Bronze statuette of Venus and Mercury.

4. A strigil, (fragment.)

5. Part of an iron horse-shoe. Iron bit of a bridle. Iron spur.

6. Two masks, one made of terra cotta, the other of pottery.

7. Anomalous earthenware vessel.

III. IMPLEMENTS AND UTENSILS.

1. Weights: one in lead, 20¼oz.; another in stone, 11½oz.

Weight in lead, marked ii., weighs 2¼oz.; another also in lead, weighs 2½oz.

2. Ladle; and neck of some vessel made of block tin.

3. Several keys, of different forms. Iron padlock.

4. Large shackles, chains, &c., of iron.

5. Knives, spear-heads, and portions of other weapons. Two axe-heads. Bone handle of a sword, very curious.

6. Several whet-stones. Stone handle to a knife. Touchstone.

7. Iron trident.

8. Rings of iron, bronze, and lead.

9. Styli of bronze and iron; bronze tweezers; bronze and iron spoons; steelyard.

10. Small cup of lead; ditto of thin copper.

11. Large plates of lead, purpose unknown.

12. Cock made of lead, a child’s toy.

13. Fragment of a lamp in red pottery.

14. Three painters’ pallettes.

15. A curious iron box—(ointment box?)

16. Iron trowel.

17. Bronze lancet (?)

IV.

PERSONAL ORNAMENTS.

1. Hair pins, in great variety; more than 30 specimens have been found made usually of bone; with some of bronze, but these are much more slender. Pl. 11.

2. Bodkins or needles made of bone.

3. Fibulæ, and buckles in great variety.

4. Bracelets or armlets, and brooch.

5. Bronze studs or buttons, some flat, and others very convex.

6. Finger rings:—a. silver; b. yellow bronze; c. bronze, with iron wire; d. bronze, with open work on one side; e. fragment of one of wood; f. iron signet ring: device engraved upon a blue stone, a fawn coming out of a nautilus shell.

7. Combs made of bone, one much ornamented. Pl. 10, figs. 5, 6.

8. Beads of glass of various sizes, some large to suspend round the neck, others to string together upon a thread.

9. Bronze bracelet of twisted work.

COINS.

1. Coins found in the present excavations at Wroxeter.

2. Coins found at Wroxeter, at different times, and given to the Museum.

3. The coins found with a skeleton in the hypocaust.

4. Coining-mould of baked clay. Julia Domna.

CINERARY URNS.

1. Large red earthenware urn, containing human hones (burnt), inclosed in an outer urn of lead, which was brought from Wroxeter many years ago.

2. Another Cinerary urn of black pottery, containing burnt human bones, found in a field adjoining the cemetery, and outside the town walls. Purchased by the secretary.

3. A large Cinerary urn, found in the recent excavations, ten inches high, and thirty in circumference, almost entire, containing bones, but not human.—See pl. 13, fig. 2.

4. Cinerary urns in red and black pottery of various sizes, from 4 to 12 inches high. Some contained burnt human bones and unguent bottles.—(Cemetery.) Many small flask-shaped bottles were found, some broken, some entire, some which had evidently been exposed to heat. Oily matter was detected in one; hence they have been termed unguent bottles.—(Cemetery.)

V. MISCELLANEOUS OBJECTS.

Medicine Stamp, found at Wroxeter in 1808, by Mr. Upton; purchased from his family in 1859, by the late Beriah Botfield, Esq., M.P., who presented it to the Museum.

1. Oyster shells in great number; shells of some nut found in an oyster shell.

2. Remains of small animals and birds.

3. Nondescript articles in iron, shapeless masses of lead, innumerable fragments of pottery, bone, &c.

4. Fragments of horn and bone which have been cut with a saw or other tool.

5. Fragments of bone, which have been turned in a lathe.

6. Inscribed sepulchral stone with Latin inscription, partly legible. There has been a statue on the top.—(Cemetery.)

7. A skiff-shaped vessel in bronze, with round handle, and a lid which closed with a catch.

8. Several legs of the fighting cock, with very large natural spurs.

9. Roundels, formed chiefly from the bottoms of earthenware vessels, perhaps used in some game; others made with a hole in the centre.

10. Skulls of the dog; one, that of a dog of the mastiff kind, of an unknown species. Bones of horse, ox, roe, and red deer, (Cervus elaphus); also fragments of the horn of a species allied to the elk of Ireland, (Strongylocerus spelæus.) Very numerous remains of the wild boar, including bones of the hoof, jaw, and tusks.

Among other bones of the ox are some of a very large kind, now unknown in this country.

Also, the crania of the Bos longifrons, more than one bearing evident marks of the fatal blow of the axe on the forehead.

11. Specimens of mended pottery:—1. Samian ware. 2. Upchurch. 3. Romano-British pottery.

12. Slabs of stone for grinding or mixing colours, painters’ pallettes.

13. Specimen of Hepatic iron ore. Ditto of Barytes or heavy spar.

14. Iron tire of a wheel, 3ft. 3ins. in diameter, 1½ inch in breadth. Two iron hoops, supposed to have belonged to the nave of the same wheel.

15. Two hoops of another nave, with the wood remaining between them.

Human Remains.

1. Parts of three human skeletons found in the hypocaust B. Two of the skulls are almost entire, and one is broken into fragments. The latter is remarkable for its great thickness. One of the two former from its form, is most probably the head of a female, and the bones of the pelvis of one skeleton are also characteristic of the female sex. One jaw-bone must have belonged to a very old person, as not only the teeth but even the sockets are gone. One hundred and thirty-two coins were found in the hypocaust with these skeletons. See page 41.

2. Five human heads, and other parts of human skeletons, were first dug up in the orchard, near the river. Of these, four were singularly deformed,—the one eye being in advance of the other and the face oblique. Ten other skulls have since been found in the same place, and have been arranged in the Museum. Of the ten above-mentioned three are deformed like the others, four are so broken and defective that their form cannot be ascertained, three are not deformed. One of the latter is a very large skull, well formed, but with very strong projecting cheek (malar) bones, and a projecting occiput.

3. The principal bones of a skeleton (female?) belonging to one of the skulls, stretched on a board (as well as could be done on the spot) just as it lay in the ground.

The circumstances under which these skeletons were found are full of interest. The greater part of them (at least twenty have been found, but not all in a state to be taken up) were evidently put into the ground with a certain degree of attention, that is, buried. They were not thrown heedlessly into a pit, but carefully deposited at full length, and generally near together, the legs and arms for the most part extended, or, as in the case above described, one arm lying across the body. In general, nothing particular has been found near them, but only the usual contents of the soil, such as stones, roots, and fragments of pottery. In one instance an iron ring, in another, some nails were met with, and in a third a single coin of Claudius Gothicus. But all these might have occurred accidentally in the neighbourhood of the bodies, in an old Roman site, and not have been buried with them. No vestiges of wood derived from coffins, or of apparel, were discovered. There were no traces of weapons or articles of domestic use, which were generally buried by the Romans with their friends, and the place where these remains were found is within the walls, and could not, therefore, be a Roman cemetery.

4. In more than one instance, bones of very young children have been found; but in one instance, alluded to at page 68, almost an entire skeleton of a child was found, which has been preserved, and is in the Museum. This was found outside the semicircular end of the great hypocaust, where there must have been a small court. From the smallness of the bones of the skeleton, and from the circumstance of the teeth being still contained within the jaw-bone, it may be inferred that this was a very young infant—perhaps still in arms.

5. A thigh bone has been found, which, having been fractured, has become united during life.

The most interesting circumstance connected with the human remains found at Wroxeter, is the large relative proportion of deformed skulls. Of the nineteen crania found in the orchard and since deposited in the Museum, eleven are more or less crooked. It has been supposed, and indeed the opinion is still entertained by some antiquarians, that this deformity was congenital and not posthumous, that is to say, that the persons to whom these skulls belonged lived and died with deformed heads. And this was my own view before I had learned that bones are capable of being bent by pressure in the ground. There can be little doubt that the deformity has been produced by posthumous pressure, aided by moisture and the solvent action of certain acids that always exist in vegetable mould. [99a] Other instances of a like effect have been described by Dr. Sherman, [99b] and, in America, by the Rev. D. Wilson. [99c]

H. J.