An "exquisite" wooden figurine from the time of the early Romans in Britain was recently discovered in a ditch in England.

The ancient statuette depicts a man dressed in a tunic.

 

During excavations for an upcoming large rail project north of London, archaeologists discovered a "very rare" carved wooden figurine, perhaps from early Roman Britain.

 

Although completely broken, the figure nevertheless seems to show a guy in a Roman-style tunic. A number of ceramic shards dated to the period of Roman rule in Britain (from roughly A.D. 43 to A.D. 84) during the reign of Emperor Claudius were also discovered in the ditch. (Julius Caesar had already invaded Britain in 54 and 55 B.C., but he could not establish a lasting presence on the island.)

 

According to the researchers, the figurine may have been intentionally deposited in the ditch as a religious offering. It was typical to practice in pre-Roman Northern Europe to bury artefacts and even human sacrifices in bogs and marshes.

 

Archaeologist Iain Williamson of Fusion JV, a contractor for the government's High Speed 2 (HS2) train project, said in a statement that the preservation of details etched into the wood, such as the hair and tunic, truly begins to bring the character depicted to live.

 

Eventually, HS2 will run more than 300 miles between London and Manchester in England (480 kilometres). Therefore, all the terrain along the route must be studied by archaeologists first before any work can begin. Consequently, the project has become a significant source of new archaeological findings.

 

A toy made of wood

 

The figurine was discovered in July of last year in Twyford, a village in Buckinghamshire. Private business Infra Archaeology, working for Fusion J.V., the centre stage of HS2's major contractor, reportedly discovered what they initially believed to be a piece of rotten wood in a waterlogged Roman canal at a wetland site named Three Bridge Mill.

 

A humanoid figurine made from a single piece of wood, whose dimensions were determined to be 26 inches (67 centimetres) in height and 7 inches (18 centimetres) in width.

 

There's an effort to keep the wooden figurine from rotting away. This length of time without decay in wood is extremely remarkable. Image courtesy of HS2

Williamson noted how unusual it was for a Roman-era wooden figure to have survived in Britain, adding that the discovery prompted further inquiries regarding the location. If you were to ask the inhabitants of Buckinghamshire in the first century A.D., "Who does the wooden figure represent, what was it used for, and why was it significant?"

 

The figurine's rather good state of preservation is one of the more remarkable aspects of the discovery. Although wood decays rapidly in the presence of oxygen, some ancient wooden artefacts have persisted because they were buried in anaerobic (oxygen-free) conditions beneath layers of silt, such as saturated clay in the ditch.

 

An artefact from long ago

 

HS2's statement noted that the figurine's feet and arms had deteriorated below the elbows, but it was in good condition considering its age.

 

The statement remarked that the carving still had "a startling level of detail," with the headgear or hairstyle of the person being particularly evident. The legs and calf muscles are strongly developed; there is a small leftward tilt to the head, and the front of the tunic appears to be gathered at the waist.

 

Historic England, a government agency dedicated to preserving cultural artefacts, has evaluated the figurine and declared it a "wonderful find."

 

Because organic artefacts from this period seldom survive, the quality of the carving is superb, and the figure is all the more interesting, said Jim Williams, a senior science advisor with Historic England. Thanks to this discovery, we can now speculate about the types of timber, plant, and animal-based artworks that might have been produced around this time.

 

The relic is currently being stored away for future study. Also discovered in the ditch was a small, broken-off fragment of the figurine, which the archaeologists intend to use to provide a more precise radiocarbon date for the wood and, through stable isotope research, to identify the source of the wood.

Reference : https://www.livescience.com/exquisite-wooden-roman-figurine-england

Image source : https://pixabay.com/id/photos/hill-pagar-kayu-matahari-terbenam-5393685/