You've got mail! (Or... British personal armour from chain-mail to the First Gulf War)

We are rapidly building up our collection of period military uniforms in the museum for next year's season. They really are an eye-catcher and because most of them are fully interactive, they are among our most popular items. This set is no exception:

Our period set of First Gulf War uniform and respirator has been on display before, but it has been given a new lease of life with the addition of a number of other uniforms to the museum's display. We can now display the development of uniform and kit from the medieval period to modern wars, ending with this set which includes the following:

Mark    Mark 6 Combat Helmet

    19     S10 Personal Respirator   

    E      Enhanced Combat Body Armour (ECBA) in Desert pattern DPM

The first Gulf conflict, fought by a UN coalition against Saddam Hussein’s Iraq, was the first notable kinetic war fought by a western coalition since the Korean War. It had been 10 years since British Forces had last deployed. Waged in defence of Kuwait after an Iraqi invasion, the conflict was the first true ‘media war’, and received extensive unfiltered coverage. It was also the testing ground for a lot of new technology, including the first use of body armour, and improved gas masks (respirators). It also saw Patriot missiles used for the first time and was an early testing ground for guided missile technology, which dominates modern warfare.

This set of clothes dates from that conflict, and it's intriguing to see plate armour return to warfare for the first time since the Medieval period, here in the form of ceramic and kelvar as opposed to plate metal. The technological battle in medieval europe between armour and armour-piercing technology at the individual soldier's level is being repeated in modern conflicts. Below, we see it's first incarnation:

Chain-mail had been industrially produced for professional armies since the rise of the Roman empire, but it tool on new urgency in the high medieval period. The English archers, the scourge of Anglo-French battlefields, were the first real armour-piercing specialist troops and as new technologies like field artillery came of age, armour struggled to keep up. Eventually heavy plate armour superseded chainmail, just as larger ceramic plates have recently replaced kelvar vests in Afghanistan. Let us not forget that between the English civil war and the Falklands war, British troops wore no armoured protection of any sort. We see once again military developments come full circle. Ultimately, the fundamentals of war do not change very much for the soldier or the scientist...  

Roman Villas in Britain (A series of interactive talks)

Good evening everyone, my name’s Ben, I’m from a charity called Strange Old Things, which is a Mobile Museum. Those of you following this thread on FB, please stick with it there's lots more new material here, or scroll down to the first picture. It’s a fully functional museum collection, except its homeless and lives in a tent. This allows the museum to travel to pretty much anywhere, and we take it out to schools, local community events,  and now here to you. It’s not-for-profit and we rely entirely on donations. Our favourite donations are not cash, but strange old things. We get a lot of people donating mystery or collectable items to the museum, which helps keep the collection fresh, and takes us in new directions. The museum covers the whole span of Britain’s glorious history, from the stone age to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

This week has been all about Roman Britain, since our series of talks on life in Roman Britain kicked off in July with an interactive lecture on life in a Roman villa. So we’re going to be looking at that here and we’re going to do it the way this museum does everything; through interaction with our period artefacts. These items are all genuine Roman pieces In 'real life' this is totally interactive, that’s the whole idea behind a mobile museum. Archaeology in Roman Britain is not about studying the past, but studying what is left of the past. As in many periods of history, it is the rich and powerful whose stories have survived, the ordinary men and women, farmers labourers, soldiers, are largely lost to us. 

The place we’re talking about today is a Roman Villa, a large country house inhabited by a local dignitary in around the 4^th Century AD. He would have lived there with his wife and children, employed a number of craftsmen and possessed a number of slaves. The land under his control was extensive, and much of it was farmed for profit. These were important people, but they were not the rulers of the land. Local administrators were appointed by the governor, who was selected by the emperor. It was a job, albeit an important one. The men who lived in these villas were making a life for themselves here.

Built of stone and cement, the roof would have been tiled. Tiles are a fairly common find, they were mass produced and sourced either locally or across the channel in Gaul. They look very much like modern tiles in fact the design hasn’t changed since the ancient Greeks. You can tell Roman tiles apart, they tend to be a bit bigger than modern examples, and they show the wear and tear of time. If you feel the surface its pitted and worn. We have many examples, most come from Carleon in Wales, which was once the Roman settlement of Isca, one of the largest garrison towns.

Villas were often co-located with garrisons, and the army barracks gradually evolve into farming buildings as the military moves on. When the Romans wanted to extend their influence somewhere, they would send in traders and diplomats first, to spread the material benefits of empire and sign alliances, then the military would follow and build camps, then land owners and settlers would follow that and turn the abandoned garrison buildings into homesteads.

Food, like most other commodities would have been plentiful most of the time. There is evidence of some villa compounds falling on hard times, but by and large they prospered and items like these would have been an everyday sight. There are two types of pottery that you tend to find in this area, Samian ware is the first. It’s quintessentially Roman, produced in Roman kilns mainly in Gaul and was the same all over the empire. It was always this colour and came in a variety of standards of quality.

This is a fragments from a small dish found in Carthage in North Africa. It’s a great example of what we call ‘Fineware’, which would have been used on special occasions for parties and to impress guests. 

Something a bit different is this fineware dish sherd which was found in Grateley, where there was a fortification from the 2^nd century onwards, evidently the area followed the usual pattern of becoming a villa complex. Romans were obsessed with image, far worse than we are today. The road to political power was one that every aristocratic Roman was expected to follow, and they spend vast sums of money on it. Showing off was an important part of building a reputation. Gaining high office was an expensive affair, and you wouldn’t get sponsors if people didn’t think you had money to throw around. Romans never made anything just because it looked pretty, it always had a purpose. We’ll see that fact reflected in all the items here as we work through them. 

This is something quite different. It’s called Greyware, and again it’s relatively common in this part of the world. All these examples are local Wiltshire finds. Greyware was not Roman, but British, it was produced locally and independently of Roman kilns. It was adopted by the Romans on their arrival here, to fill the constant demand for storage and transportation vessels. The empire consumed pot amphorae by the ton, there is a hillock in Central Rome over 200ft high that is composed entirely of discarded Olive Oil amphorae. This is courseware, which differs from fineware in that it was used for cooking and serving, not for show. The decoration is quite subtle but it’s not overly fancy. If you hold them in your palms, you can see how large these containers would have been. A lot of Roman pottery was glazed. While this looks very attractive, again the purpose is a practical one. Glazed pot is much easier to clean, so it’s a lot more hygienic.

So what do these fragments tell us? You can actually tell a lot about a site from the size of the fragments you recover. Larger fragments like these have usually been broken by accident or over time, they tell the story of abandonment rather than violence. Rome knew it’s days in Britain were numbered in the 4^th Century, it was too difficult to fortify and it wasn’t regarded as enough of a priority to defend. So when they left, it was done relatively orderly and their immediate successors the Saxons really just followed them and occupied the settlements they abandoned. Compare that with some of our tiny Mediterranean fragments, which are typical of the type recovered from some of the islands, and there is a clear difference; i.e. they look like they’ve been to a Greek wedding. They are clearly smashed. We have fragments from Majorca, which was brutally sacked by Vandals in 4^th c AD, the original vandals of history were a nomadic race and who hated city dwellers. Other items are from Kurion which was destroyed by an earthquake, also in the 4^th c. The small fragments tell of drama, not decline. Britain’s fate was typically more sedate and understated, but no less interesting.

So what was Pottery like before the Romans arrived? Well, largely rubbish I’m afraid. 

This is an example of, probably late iron age pottery, hand decorated. Because Iron age communities lived in isolation there was never the mass produced fineware of Roman culture. But, as I look at this item, I actually prefer it to the Roman pieces. As you hold this, and look at the decorations, you can easily imagine someone with a wet clay bowl, and a stick, making a random pattern like this. And it was just to make it look more attractive. So what we have here is probably Iron Age fineware from a very ordinary family. But it looks Roman doesn’t it? It’s like a poor imitation. Well, it is. By the 3^rd and 2^nd C BC, Roman pottery was making its way to Britain, not necessarily fineware, but as containers for things like wine and olive oil which the empire traded for raw materials. Everyone knew what Rome was, and many people sought to imitate the empire at a local level in Britain. And of course, many more had an eye on the future, they knew Rome would eventually be on the doorstep, and they wanted to appear pro-Roman by adopting some if the culture, so they would be good allies.

Villas were a great place to see Roman technology at work, which was probably more important to them than their artistic work. It was, after all, technology that won wars, not pretty dishes. Roman engineering is rightly famed for its ingenuity, but only the wealthy could take full advantage. These tile fragments are sections of flutes that formed a central heating system for villas. They were arranged into square pipes that ran inside the walls and under the floor, terminating in an outhouse in which a large fire was lit. The resulting warm air was circulated through the piping, heating the house.

The tile on the left is from West Sussex, 4^th C. The scouring on the reverse of this fragment would have helped it stick to the wall. Traces of the original mortar can still be seen. The tile on the Right is from Dorset, 3^rd C. A maker’s mark can be seen on this section, which may have been an indication of how the tiles were to be put together once assembled on site. Explain. Now and then, if you get lucky, you can see a maker’s make of a known potter or painter. Some of these artists followed the rich settlers as they took land in the wake of the Roman invasion, and their marks can be seen at a number of sites. If you plot these sites on the map, you can tell where the individual was employed, so you can follow his career through the country. It’s one way of trying to piece together what was happening and when, there is still a lot of confusion about where the Romans were, and in what numbers. Villas can help us to work out the centres of activity in the country.

Terracotta mosaic floor tiles are another nice example, our examples are from c. AD 300 and were found in Norfolk. Mosaics are an instantly recognisable Roman thing. Again, they were a sign of wealth, and again they had a practical purpose. In the same way that glazed pot is easier to wash, mosaic floors are easier to keep clean, it discourages rats and the like. Not all mosaics were masterpieces. You can often use the quality of mosaics to track the highs and lows of a family’s fortunes. There’s a brilliant section in Silchester villa, which is a large geometric pattern, with dolphins at each corner, but the artist has got it wrong, so the bottom right dolphin is squished up next to the wall, looks more like a tadpole!

Another common sight in the Roman world were brooches. Very decorative, but again let’s not forget these were functional items. In fact, what you’re looking at here is the world’s first safety pin. It was used to fasten clothing together. Except of course, these are not the first. Civilisation in Britain did not begin with the Romans. 

This is an Iron Age brooch from Wiltshire. Its 3^rd C BC, so a few centuries before the Romans. The design is called La Tene, and was distinctively ‘Celtic’ not Roman. And is this not just as beautiful as anything the Romans were making? Let’s go forward to the Post Roman world, this is an Anglo Saxon Cross Potent brooch, again it’s distinctively Saxon, not Roman. So in terms of style and craft, it didn’t begin and end with Rome. Brooches are brilliant, because they reflect the styles of the time. Brooches from the 1^st Century are different to the 2^nd, which are different to the 3^rd, so you can use these finds to date the habitation of a villa. Jewellery was important to Romans, again as a symbol of wealth, and it wasn’t just the rich who were concerned, it was really every Roman citizen. The whole culture constantly re-enforced the idea that you should always seek to better yourself. So when ordinary Romans wore jewellery, they made sure it was of a design that others would appreciate. We have beads of semi-precious stones, coral, glass and bone. It’s the sort of everyday item that perhaps the wives of scholars or craftsmen would have worn, people who would have lived in or around the villa and served the lord of the manor. And just like today, there would have been fashions, so emeralds for example would have been in last year, but unfashionable this year.

Some of our more fragile items are glass. These are nice pieces. Amazing that they survive at all. These are the rims and handles of Glass containers, jugs or cups probably. An interesting aside, the Romans used cups like we do, but in Jewish tradition they used dishes to drink out of, called Graels. This is what the Jews originally meant when they talked about the Holy Grail, but the Romans mis-understood. So the holy grail is actually a Dish and not a cup. Anyway, Glass cups. They are not clear like modern glass. It’s a combination of different colours and some of these have been painted as well. Today, if you have coloured glass it’s a sign of wealth, a bit fancy for a special occasion or decoration. In Ancient Rome it was the opposite. Clear glass was not invented for 100s of years after coloured glass, and it was an expensive luxury. Coloured glass was much more common. Again, this is a message. Having these nice things was like having a sign up in your house saying ‘I’m rich, and important’.

One of my favourite items is an Intaglio (engraved gemstone) ring from Didcot, Oxfordshire. c. AD 1^st – 3^rd C. Jewellery was not restricted to women as it is today. Although I think more men wear jewellery today than women. Men wore rings, they wore necklaces, they wore brooches, and again these things were a sign of status and power. And there was nothing more manly than power in ancient Rome. And, once again, We see the Romans with a very pretty, but ultimately practical item. This ring would have been engraved with a mark to signify the owners seal, and probably it was used to mark letters or official documents. Most finds like this are found by metal detectors, or by field walkers. In parts of the UK there was so much Roman habitation that ploughs regularly drag things like this to the surface, and they can be picked up off the soil. Many of the pot sherds were found this way. It’s a very useful way of identifying an area that might have contained Roman settlements or buildings.

Our talks continue throughout August and September with a look at a 'Legionaries diary', the life and experiences of the Roman army told through the eyes of a single Legionary based in Britain during the 3rd C. 

Brooching the subject...(Or, The Celts, La Tene and mythology)

The term 'Celts' is a much used phrase. It neatly sums up a race that we are very familiar with from mythology. Unfortunately, there is little history to follow the myth. Who were the 'Celts'? Well, nobody unfortunately. It's a catch-all phrase to group together many disparate and unique ethnicities and tribes, but it loosely covers the inhabitants of pre-Roman Britain, and especially Ireland. Even though the people in Ireland had nothing at all to do with the people in Pre-Roman Britain...

So why 'Celts'? Is this a Roman thing? Not really, the Romans talked about the 'Britons' but they meant the tribes inhabiting the South of modern England, not Ireland, Scotland or Wales so much. Their catch-all term was 'barbarian' which applied to anyone who didn't speak Latin. The phrase was actually Greek in origin, a 'barbarian' was someone who didn't speak Greek (i.e. his language was gibberish to Greek ears and sounded like 'bar bar bar'.) Ironically, Greeks once applied the term to the native inhabitants of Italy, including the Romans themselves.

So why 'Celts'? Well, here is why:

In the 3rd Century BC, a powerful cultural force swept through the peoples of Northern Europe. It seems to have had as its epicentre a small but rich settlement on the banks of a Swiss lake. It is known to have traded with the Mediterranean world. It has come to be called 'La Tene'. La Tene is an elusive concept, but at its heart it's an artistic movement that influenced the development of even the most basic items, like this lovely bronze brooch from around the 2nd Century BC found in Wiltshire. Its flowing lines, loops and zoomorphic styles have come to define what we think of as 'Celtic', but we have assigned it a race of its own, and a fairly strict geographic location. We should not. La Tene was more like the hippy revolution of the sixties than a group of people. And who knows what people in 2,000 years time will make of that...

Archaeology Show at Old Sarum this Saturday and Sunday.

Come and see the museum at the Archaeology Show at Old Sarum this Saturday and Sunday. 

We'll be showcasing some new material, including the Neolithic flint working study group seen below. There will also be a collection of Roman coins, and some recent battlefield finds from the First World War.

Neolithic people were more cultured and skilled than many people think. As well as creating a range of tools, they crafted jewellery and statuettes and engaged in trade and religious activity.

This collection explores the process of ‘flint knapping’, where everyday tools were made from locally found flint. These items are from West Surrey and date to c. 10,000 BC

For event details see http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/daysout/events/archaeology-weekend-os-27-jul

eye, claudius... (or, roman slave tatoos)

I have seen quite a few Latin tattoos recently. Some lamentably mis-spelt... In fact I read one newspaper describe them as 'Roman tattoos'. No, no no no.... Tattoos did exist in the Roman world, but for quite a different purpose. To paint one's body was really very 'barbarian'. the term 'Picts' to describe the Scots comes from the Northern tribes' habit of tattooing and painting pictures on their bodies. Romans would have no such thing! Tattoos were, however, a useful was of marking one's property and there was no greater commodity that slaves. Various tattoos were invented, perhaps the most famous and tragic was 'FVG' which was stamped above the eye of a slave (having no letter 'U' the Romans used 'V' instead, so it read FUG) and stood for FUGITIVUS. Unsurprisingly, this meant FUGITIVE. Thus, if a slave ever escaped, he would automatically be identified as a runaway and handed in. Other motifs were used in the East, where the trade flourished, and there were markers which essentially meant 'Tax Paid' which were also stamped onto the skin of slaves. A brutal reminder of the dehumanisation of entire races in the ancient world. Roman's didn't just decorate pottery you know... 

A note on the Suez War (Or, British Armed Forces Bank Notes 3rd issue)

After the end of the Second World War, the British army decided it was rather unwise to ship large amounts of hard cash into hostile environments abroad. From 1946 onwards, they began to issue their own banknotes that could be spend by soldiers in the canteen and later the NAAFI (Navy, Army, Air-force Institute). They were only redeemable at British army shops by British soldiers, so it was pointless to try and steal them. There were 6 issues (including a very rare 5th issue which seem only to have been released in tiny numbers). Well done if you have one of those, they are worth a mint! But, as usual, at the Mobile Museum we measure value in terms of interest. So my favourite of them all is this one:

Wonderful. It's third series, which was issued in 1956 for the Suez War, a much under-studied and forgotten war. You rarely see anything in terms of artefacts turn up for this conflict, so I'm very chuffed that we have this. In fact, the Suez War is a key conflict in our 'Helping History' project (find out more on our website: http://www.strange-old-things-the-mobile-museum.co.uk/helping-history-project/) Anyway, this note was one of four that we were very kindly given mid-show at a WW1 exhibition we did for a Armed Forces event on July 17th. £1 was the highest denomination available in this series.

THE SUEZ WAR

Rather a fiasco I'm afraid. Perhaps why it has been swept under the bulging carpet of forgotten fights. Basically in July 1956 Egypt rather rudely decided to nationalise the Suez canal, lifeblood of European trade from the Indian Ocean to the Mediterranean. Without the canal, you have to sail all the way around Africa, which quickly becomes tiresome. Nasser, the Egyptian President, was a bit too cosy with the Communist powers for Britain's liking, who teamed up with France and Israel to launch an invasion. Despite achieving the limited military objectives, the attack was almost universally condemned as a quasi-imperialist venture (which it probably was) and pressure from the USSR and US forced the occupation to end. Israel, who gained concessions elsewhere, was really the only net winner. The war was not popular in Britain, and cost the Prime Minister, Eden, the next election.

BRITISH FORCES MONEY TODAY

To this day British Forces use the same principal to manage hard currency in operational environments. Although the Dollar is the near-universal currency on Allied camps in Afghanistan, bizarre little cardboard tokens have been issued as small change substitutes. They are affectionately known as 'pogs' after the '90s collectors game. But they're not nearly as pretty...   

Helping History: Forgotten Fights

The museum is beginning an oral history project to explore aspects of Britain's forgotten conflicts. For the next year, we will be collecting personal memories from veteran's lesser known wars by email, interview and snail mail. I will be fascinated to learn what men thought of the mission in Aden, how the jungles of Malaysia became home, what Northern Ireland was really like during the troubles. I hope it will interest you as well.

If you have a story to tell, or if you know someone who might be interested in sharing with us, please let us know. The recollections will be posted throughout the year on this blog, on our Facebook page, on twitter and via the website and, of course, they will be displayed at the museum's shows. We can post anonymously as well.

Help history and keep the past alive.