‘Geordie’ Roman god found in a tip
AN 1,800-year-old “Geordie” Roman stone god has been found buried in an ancient rubbish dump.
The discovery was made by a student at Binchester Roman fort, near Bishop Auckland, County Durham, as a team dug through an old bath house.
The eight-inch figure carved in sandstone, which dates from either the second or third century AD, is similar to the Celtic deity Antenociticus, thought to have been worshipped locally as a source of inspiration in war.
A similar head, complete with an inscription identifying it as Antenociticus, was found at Benwell, in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, in 1862.
Dr David Petts, a lecturer in archaeology at Durham University, said: “It’s possibly a Geordie god.
“We found the Binchester head close to where a small Roman altar was found two years ago.
“Antenociticus is one of a number of gods known only from the northern frontier, a region which seems to have had a number of its own deities.
Antenociticus is not mentioned at any other Romano-British site or on any inscriptions from Europe, which is why it has been identified as a local deity.
Alex Kirton, 19, from Hertfordshire, who found the head, said: “As an archaeology student this is one of the best things and most exciting things that could have happened.
“It was an incredible thing to find in a lump of soil in the middle of nowhere – I’ve never found anything remotely exciting as this.”
The find was made as part of a five-year project at Binchester Roman fort which is attempting to shed new light on the twilight years of the Roman Empire.