Tuesday, August 05, 2008

Portable calender find at Vindolanda

One of the great things about living near the central section of Hadrian's Wall is that there is the annual Vindolanda excavation. This year, they are excavating around the granaries and the vicus.
Last week, the Hexham Courant reported that they had found a perpetual portable calender, or at least part of one in the granaries. Such a thing has not been found in Britain before... Most towns and cities had massive calenders on the walls of buildings, but this is a handheld one, complete with holes where pegs could be placed. Once it is cleaned up, it will go on display at Vindolanda in the autumn.
They have also found a little finger ring inscribed matri/patri as well as an altar to the goddess of Syria. The Syrian connection is interesting and intriguing. Of course, one of the big graves in Corbridge was a merchant from Syria. His wife, Regina's grave stone is in the Newcastle Museum of Antiquities. Syria played a major role in Septimus Severus's reign. His wife, Julia Domina came from Syria...but really it is the first time that they discovered a link to the country at Vindolanda. I am secretly thrill as the thriller that I wrote but never sold had to do with the Syrian influence on the Wall.
You can read more about the ring and the statue here. The excavations are ongoing until the beginning of September. Also in September they are doing several lectures including the horse through the ages.

5 comments:

Kate Hardy said...

How exciting! We visited Vindolanda when we holidayed in Northumbria, and loved it. If I lived where you do, I'd be there...

Thanks for sharing.

Michelle Styles said...

Yes well I thought of you when I posted this.
Vindolanda is a fascinating place. I believe the current esitmate is about 100 years more of digging to uncover all its treasures.

Anonymous said...

Hi Michelle,

I was one of the two lucky people who actually unearthed the calender on 7th July this year. It was amazing! I posted a piece on my blog to commemorate the occasion,
Kate
http://journals.aol.co.uk/bobandkate/AnAnalysisofLife/#Entry2858

Michelle Styles said...

And what a thrilling blog entry it is!
Congratulations on your wonderful find!
I look forward to seeing it behind glass in September. But what a moment it must have been to pull it out of the ground!

Kate Hardy said...

I would've posted on your blog, Kate, to say congratulations, but I don't have an AOL account so it wouldn't let me. What a fantastic find. I can imagine how thrilled you were. (Sorry, Michelle, for hijacking your blog - but you did tell me the entry was here *g*)