Women’s ornaments

There’s plenty of evidence for women at Wroxeter in its later, civilian heyday but we also know that they were present from the outset, when the site was a legionary fortress. This tiny silver hair ornament confirms that an elite woman arrived with the army.

Only 13mm long, this is part of a complex hair accessory. At the top is a mano fica (fig hand) – a potent gesture very popular with Romans, in which the thumb is inserted between the middle fingers of a clenched fist, making a shape resembling female and male genitals in the act of sex. The other end of the ornament depicts a phallus. The ornament’s off-centre perforation means that it would have hung with the fist at the top.

These two motifs were used in antiquity to protect against the evil eye. Although images of the mano fica and the phallus are usually seen on men’s  accessories, this was not a rule – as demonstrated in the use of silver here. Silver, with its references to the moon, was a metal worn by women. 

Women and textiles

In Rome, women produced their family’s clothes, although the wealthy could buy ready-made items. In Britain, with its own long tradition of textile production, making clothing in the home would have been familiar. Combed wool fibres were spun into a thread using a spindle weighted with a whorl at the bottom to make it spin effectively. The thread would be woven on a loom into long pieces of cloth. The shuttle was used to convey the weft thread back and forth between two sets of upright warp threads; the pin beater is to knock the stitches down to tighten the weave.

Garments of the period were usually made of one piece of fabric that could be minimally shaped on the loom. This would then be sewn up the side to make a tunic or a tube dress, which could be pinned at the shoulders with brooches. The four-holed weaving tablet was used to produce woven strips that could be used for belts or as trims.

Magic

Women’s magic was present in all pre-modern societies and mainly related to childbirth, fertility and relationships. It covered a wide range of beliefs and activities that could include potions, curses and spells with malicious intent, to more benevolent ones for love or healing. It’s likely that these sub-genres of women’s magic were practised by different people.

Much was written about witches and witchcraft by the authors of antiquity but archaeological evidence is rare because most of what is involved in magical practice has left no trace.

This protective amulet is made from jet, a lustrous black material used mainly for jewellery (especially women’s) and providing a useful physical expression of what people believed in the Roman period. It has physical properties that would have made it appear to be a magic material in antiquity: rubbing jet generates a mild electrical charge. Despite looking like stone, it also burns and floats due to actually being petrified wood.

Drinking objects

Alcohol was socially and nutritionally important in antiquity. Finds from Wroxeter provide evidence for the serving and consumption of alcohol, as well as production and storage, over 400 years.

In the pre–Roman Iron Age drinking alcohol in a group, especially as part of a feast, reinforced social bonds. Alcohol (mead or ale) was usually served in buckets from which individual cups were filled using a ladle. These buckets were often decorated, particularly along the rim.

The earliest object found at Wroxeter is a figurine of Castor or Pollux. It was originally a mount on the rim of a wine bucket in Italy (1st century BC) before it broke off and was adapted into a pendant.

Wine and its accessories

The period during which the Roman army progressed through Britain in the 1st century AD corresponded with the mastering of glass-blowing technology in the Mediterranean regions. Across the empire, glass vessels became affordable and available as they were easy to transport. The trade in wine from the Mediterranean expanded into Britain and items needed for drinking and serving wine in the Roman way became particularly desirable and were traded widely. While alcohol had always been important, exotic imported wine had additional kudos and was stronger than local brews.

Two 2nd-century glass wine beakers imported from the major glass production centre in Roman Cologne have been reconstructed and are on display at Wroxeter’s site museum. These would have been part of a wide range of glass vessels seen on the dining tables of the elite, including serving dishes, cups, bowls and jugs for serving wine.