A History of Ancient Britain (73 page)

29. ‘Turning and turning in the widening gyre . . .’ – one of the earliest examples of a perfect form known as a triple spiral – with no
beginning and no end – pecked into one of the recesses in the passage grave of Newgrange.

30. The
lilia
defences on the northern side of the Antonine Wall at Rough Castle Fort, near Falkirk. Originally three feet deep, each pit would have contained
sharpened stakes. Camouflaged with brushwood, they would have crippled charging men and horses.

31. With a large circular enclosure connected to a long narrow entrance, a class of Iron Age sites has been saddled with the name of banjo enclosures. While they
may appear defensive, in truth it seems more likely they were simply homes for extended families.

32. A carved stone slab from Housesteads Fort on Hadrian’s Wall showing an item of clothing dubbed the original duffel coat. Known to the Romans as the
birrus Britannicus
, it was apparently worn by the natives to ward off the enervating cold of the northern winters.

33. Irish examples of the enigmatic and mysterious class of artefacts known as divination spoons – rare finds attributed by some to the ritual practices of
druids.

34. Not bad for a first attempt – the hoard of gold jewellery found near Stirling in 2009 by a man trying his hand at metal detecting for the very first
time. What was unearthed was nothing less than the most valuable hoard of Iron Age gold ever found in Scotland.

35. A tiny silver minim found at Silchester. One side bears the name of Verica, a warlord or king who ruled a territory in southern Britain around the time of the
Claudian invasion. In a bid to secure his position, he had styled himself ‘Commius Filius’, CF, on the reverse of the coin – meaning son of Commius, and therefore a reference to
an earlier British ruler supported by Caesar.

36. The Falkirk Tartan – a fragment of woven woollen fabric found in 1934 alongside a pot full of Roman silver coins. It is thought the cloth was originally
used as a cover or seal. The simplicity of the fabric, coupled with its similarity to familiar modern tartans, has made the find a potent symbol of the people who wove it and wore it around
1,800 years ago.

37. Hell no fury hath . . . a curse tablet recovered from the sacred waters of Bath, begging vengeance for love lost: ‘May he who has stolen Vilbia from me
become as liquid as water.’

38. Two silver handles from the vast hoard found on Traprain Law, in East Lothian, home of the Votadini tribe. A leopard and a panther, perhaps designed and made
as a pair and buried between
AD
410 and 425.

An Orion ebook

First published in Great Britain in 2011 by Orion Books

This ebook first published in 2011 by Orion Books

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