A hitchhikers guide to the Liberty: 8 fabulous finds and where they came from

An emerald bead from the deserts of Egypt

The object which perhaps travelled the furthest was this tiny emerald bead. Measuring barely a centimetre across. It likely came from the famous Roman emerald mines at Sikait in Egypt, known to the Romans as Mons Smaragdus or Emerald Mountain! 

Similar beads have been found as part of high-status Roman jewellery and are featured on Romano-Egyptian mummy portraits, but they are an incredibly rare find in Britain. 

A marble basin from the central Mediterranean

Our next object probably travelled nearly as far. In fact, we’d have to travel to the other side of the Roman Empire to see it depicted on a frieze at the temple of Demeter at Boeotia, Greece. 

This marble basin was likely made in southern Italy or Greece between AD 1 - 200. It looks quite like a mortarium, a type of Roman bowl used for preparing food. However, the surface is much smoother than a mortarium, and its spout is just for show. Instead, we think this basin was used for bathing, grooming or mixing up face-creams and other cosmetics.The frieze from the temple in Greece shows tools for grooming and make-up next to the basin.

A piece of shale bangle from Dorset

This small section of shale bangle shows that high quality stone goods were also available from closer to home. Shale, particularly from Dorest, has been used in Britain since at least the Bronze Age, but it wasn’t commonly traded until the Roman period. It was very popular during the later Roman period (AD 250-410) and we often find shale jewellery deposited as grave goods.  

A fancy bowl from central Gaul (now France)

This fragment is the remains of a mould-decorated Samian ware (Terra sigillata) bowl, covered in images of animals and plants. Samain ware was produced in a number of regional centres, mostly in Gaul (modern-day France and western Germany). Samian ware like this was one of the major imports into Roman Britain. 

A small lamp from northern Italy

We also discovered some Roman ceramics from further afield. One great example is this handle of a small lamp. There is a stamp on the base which reads IEGIDI. This tells us it was made in a workshop in Northern Italy, probably between AD 100-200.

A bronze bowl from Southern Italy

Other finds from Italy were made from bronze. This handle is from a large bowl that would have measured more than 40cm across. They are a rare find in Britain, but some have previously been found in Iron Age burials from Kent, suggesting they were imported into Northern Europe before the Roman invasion of Britain in AD 43. Bowls like this are more commonly found in the Campania region of Italy, where many of them were made, and have also been discovered at Pompeii.  

An ivory knife handle from North Africa

Our final two finds take us back to North Africa. The first is an ivory knife handle. This oddly constructed handle was held onto the blade with a rather interesting spring, which you can still see in this picture. It likely dates to the beginnings of Roman Southwark, some point between AD 43 - AD 80. We don’t know exactly where the ivory came from, but it could be from the North African Elephant, which was hunted to extinction in the Roman period.

A glass inkwell-top from Nile Delta

This is the top of a Roman glass inkwell. Along with ceramic and metal inkpots, which we’ve uncovered a lot of at The Liberty, these show the site’s Roman residents were able to read and write. While the inkwell itself was probably made in northern Europe, the raw glass itself comes from northern Egypt. This was the heart of Roman glass production, where tonnes of the material were made in the furnaces every day.