Remarkable discovery in England.
At
Runcorn, England, while a dam was being sunk for a bridge across the river, a discovery was made of the highest historical importance, and which may lead to more information respecting a period of which little is known, viz: that immediately succeeding the first arrival of the Saxons in Britain.
The discovery was made in the following manner, written to the Liverpool
Mercury by
J. P. Ashton, a well-known antiquary:
"On the 27th instant, while sinking one of our caissons, an obstacle was met with which defied the pressure exercised by our sinking apparatus.
Divers were sent down, who, on removing a quantity of sand from about the base of the caisson, reported the obstacle to be a large log of wood.
By the help of a strong crane, and after removing the pressure from the caisson, we were enabled to draw it up to the staging, and found it not to be a log of wood, as the divers, misled by its general attrited state, had reported, but a large coffin-shaped box, of great strength, measuring about eight feet by three feet. The wood had become impregnated with oxide of iron from the red sandstone, which had made it as hard as iron itself, so that it was with the greatest difficulty that we were enabled to pry open the fid. The inside, which was roughly hewn to the shape of a human body, but with a large additional space at the head, was lined with a whitish, bituminous substance, and contained the body of a man in a most wonderful state of preservation.
It is attired in the dress of a wealthy Roman citizen, the tunic and toga both white, embroidered with purple and gold threads, the toga fastened with a handsome golden fibula.
The straps of the buskins are studded with little golden bosses.
Attached to the girdle are a tablet and a golden-hilted stylus.
The
tout ensemble, in fact, while not glaring, is rich and tasteful.
"The body, though in civil dress, appears to be that of a legionary officer, as a large military cloak is swathed round it, and by its side are a short sword (the famous
Roman 'gladium'), with its belt, a javelin and a vince, such as centurions used to preserve discipline among the men. A fine onyx signet ring, bearing the letters 'S. P. Q. R, ' and the figure of a wolf, is on the finger.
This I conjecture to be a symbol of authority delegated by the
Roman Senate, or the then reigning
Emperor, to the bearer.
The sword and belt also bear the initials 'S. P. Q. R.'--The head of the vinca is shaped into a rude resemblance to a Roman eagle.
"The body has been embalmed in so skillful a manner as to preserve, even after this lapse of time, the features tolerably distinct; but it is excessively fragile, crumbling at a touch; in fact, it has only been preserved from total destruction by the mantle, and by a quantity of a cryptogamic plant, allied to the common equisetum, which is packed round it, keeping it steady and immovable in the coffin.
"I forbear giving a more detailed account, and will proceed to mention briefly the contents of the space above the head of the corpse.
A quantity of the equisetum like herb sustains uninjured an amphora of coarse earthenware, with a yellow, vitreous glaze.
The handles and neck are broken off, and inside it is placed — also with packing — a beautifully-executed cinerary urn of red Semain ware, containing ashes and a small roll of vellum, covered with characters which I am unable to decipher, but which I believe to be
Saxon.
Sprinkled through the scroll I, however, find the
Roman name "
Q. Sulpicious,
Piso, " the initials "S. P. Q. R.," the words "legatus," "crematio," "manes," "lares," and a few others.
This scroll I therefore imagine to hold the key of the enigma presented by the many anomalous appearances I have described and am about to describe.
"In the amphora, beneath the urn, are a number of ornaments of
gold and
silver, such as were worn by
Saxon females of rank; among them is a kind of rude locket, containing a long tress of glossy yellow hair.
The ornaments appear to be a set, as if they had belonged to one person; and this fact, coupled with the presence of the hair, leads me to suppose the ashes contained in the urn to be those of the owner both of them and the hair.
"The amphora also contains a small packet of coins, nearly one hundred in number, of which forty-three are gold, and of the reigns of the
Roman emperors Honorins, dating A. D. 410, a few of Hadrian,
Antonius and
Severus, with earlier dates.
The remaining coins are silver, probably
Saxon, but owing to their mutilated and defaced condition, I am unable to say positively.
On one only is a date visible, namely, 465.
"From these dates, as well as from the
Saxon ornaments, I am inclined to refer the remains to about the date of the first arrival of the Saxons in Britain.--The corpse may be that of one of the last emissaries of
Rome to this island — or, as history speaks of no political intercourse between
Rome and our island at that period, he may have been connected with a religious, not a civil, mission.
The ashes I surmise to be those of a Saxon female.
But how shall we account for the presence of the remains of a Roman and a Saxon in a common tomb?
More strange still is the embalming of the
Roman and the cremation of the
Saxon.
The position of the coffin in the bed of the river is also strange; but an overturned boat and the shifting sands may account for this.
Possibly the scroll found in the urn may give an explanation of this, and until this has been deciphered we must be content to remain in the dark.
I have been instructed, in case no claim is made for the remains as 'treasure trove,' to send the whole in their present condition to the British Museum about the beginning of next week."
