The Ancient Jewellery of Hadrian’s Wall

 Over 2000 years ago the Romans built heavily defended forts to control their newly won territory in England.   

 The most famous of these was Hadrian’s Wall built on the northern edge of their British territory. Hadrian’s Wall spanned from coast-to-coast to protect Roman England from the tribes who lived in Scotland. The wall  separated the Romans from the barbarians. I was lucky enough to visit the ancient remains of Hadrian’s Wall at Housesteads and experience how people lived at that time and see the wonderful Roman artifacts on display. This display included the ancient jewellery of Hadrian’s Wall which of course interested me a lot. 

Hadrian’s Wall epitomized Roman power. The Roman Empire was one of the greatest the world has ever seen and existed in one form or another for over 2000 years. How the Romans were able to rule their enormous empire for so long is a constant source of fascination. Their professional army whilst relatively small were actually extremely powerful. The Romans no only used power and force to rule but portrayed a strong image about themselves.

Hadrian’s Wall stretched for over 80 miles from the Solway Coast in Cumbria to Wallsend near Newcastle upon Tyne. In places it was 6m in height and was a massive feat of engineering covering the rolling countryside, crossing rivers and hugging the formidable crags of the Whin Sill near Bardon Mills. The wall was a frontier control with forts built along the walls which served two purposes, protection and defense. 

Outside these forts thriving settlements developed where locals lived. It is assumed that the soldiers' wives and families also lived here rather than in the forts. Beside their houses, there would have been shops and workshops, inns and taverns, temples and brothels and farmers could sell their goods in the markets.

In the busy environment of this Fort of Vicus which I visited, the soldiers, merchants and civilians all mingled. Artifacts of female personal adornment were found all over the site and included brooches (14), an earring (15),  beads (16), and bracelets (17) serve as a reminder that women were very much present in this frontier society. 

Roman women loved jewellery and wore necklaces and bracelets made out of  pearls,brightly coloured glass beads and polished stones. Roman women also wore earrings and friendship rings. Highly decorated clothes pins and hair combs were also popular.  
Roman men tended to wear a finger ring as their sole source of jewellery.

 

The Romans imported all sorts of other luxury goods to maintain their standard of living. Another piece excavated from sites around the wall was a finger ring made from a single piece of amber has a relief carving of Minerva, who was goddess of wisdom and righteous warfare. This delicate piece of jewellery was made in the north-east corner of Italy and was probably worn to promote good dreams. 

Other jewellery recovered from the wall, includes a jet finger ring and part of a decorated glass bangle would probably been owned by quite well off women possibly the wives and daughters of soldiers serving there.

What I saw of Hadrian’s wall was so well preserved and fascinated me so much I had to see it several times to absorb what life was like during the Roman rule. What intrigues most were the statues of the gods (see next blog) and the ancient Roman jewellery pictured above.