A pair who’ve been volunteer diggers on the Roman fort of Vindolanda in Northumberland for 21 years have found a reduction believed to be an outline of the Roman goddess of Victory. Liverpool engineer Jim Quinlan and healthcare employee Dilys Quinlan unearthed the sandstone reduction from a pile of rubble above the third century infantry barracks.
The stone block is 47cm x 28cm x 17cm (18.5 x 11 x 6.7 inches) and is carved with a determine standing with on leg ahead and holding a rounded object. If it’s a illustration of Victoria, the spherical object might be the wreath, an emblem of triumph that’s considered one of her attributes. It seems to be quite spherical to me, although, so who is aware of.
The stone is considered one aspect of a a lot bigger reduction which might have framed an inscription in its centre. These explicit barracks at Vindolanda have been constructed on the finish of a tumultuous time for the Romans in Britain, in c AD 213, simply after the top of the Severan wars. The barracks have been as soon as adorned with a big decorative arch and gate, exactly the situation the place an inscription might have been current. The reduction of Victory is poignant, representing the top of the warfare and the institution of the fort on the website. […]
Roman reliefs like this have been typically painted with vibrant colors. The Belief’s curator, Barbara Birley famous that “it’s extremely probably that this stone would have initially been brightly painted. We shall be working with our specialists to see if any traces of the pigment stay, so for now the reduction is being saved unwashed prepared for that additional evaluation.”
The rubble layer it was present in was what remained of a 4th century ground, so it appears the reduction was damaged and a chunk of it recycled a century later when the ground was constructed.
The reduction will go on show on the Vindolanda Museum as a part of an exhibition of current discoveries in early 2026.
This video diary options Dr. Marta Alberti-Dunn, Deputy Director of Excavations at Vindolanda, giving an replace the progress of this season’s dig. She speaks to finders and discusses the reduction at 4:02.
