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2,000-Year-Old Leather “Mouse” Comes Out of Storage at Roman Vindolanda
A tiny piece of leather cut into the shape of a mouse has emerged from the vast collections of Roman Vindolanda, offering an unusual glimpse into the lighter side of life on Rome’s northern frontier. The Vindolanda Trust highlighted the object this week as part of its weekly “Shoesday” series, which celebrates the site’s remarkable…
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2,000-Year-Old Berlanga Cup Found in Spain May Trace a Roman Soldier’s Journey from Hadrian’s Wall
A Roman soldier may have carried this small bronze cup nearly 2,000 kilometers across the empire. Now found in central Spain, the object—known as the Berlanga Cup—is doing something rare in archaeology. It does not just tell us where it was made. It hints at who carried it, where he served, and what he chose…
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Roman Pinecone Hairpin Found in Britain Carried a Hidden Symbol of Fertility and Power
A Roman pinecone hairpin discovered in Britain is revealing how a simple personal object could carry powerful symbols of fertility and belief in the Roman world. A small bone object uncovered during recent excavations in Britain is now offering a rare, almost personal glimpse into how people in the Roman world expressed belief, identity, and…
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Only Known Roman Bone Phallus Discovered in Museum Storage in the Netherlands
A routine inventory inside a Dutch museum storage facility has revealed something archaeologists almost never see: a Roman phallus carved from bone, an object so unusual that it may be the only confirmed example of its kind from the ancient world. The artifact surfaced during a large-scale cataloging project at the Valkhof Museum in the…