SDO10119 - Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of London 21

“John Acland, Esq., Curator of the Dorset County Museum, exhibited, through the Secretary, a complete bone hilt of a Roman sword, lately found at Dorchester. The hilt was of bone, and consisted of a hollow pommel with circular cap and button at the end of the tang, a corrugated grip, and hollow guard, the iron tang being visible in the circular plate inserted at the end. Its total length was 67.8 inches. On the circumstances of the discovery of the object Mr Acland has obligingly communicated the following note: “The sword-handle was found in Dorchester in the autumn of 1905, by workmen excavation for layin foundations of a new building in South Street. It lay about 4 feet below the present ground level; nearly all the Roman remains, especially the mosaic floors, are found at that depth in Dorchester. One of the workmen afterwards pointed out the spot were it was unearthed. There was no trace of a hilt or blade. Near the sword-handle was found an iron finger ring with small intaglio representing apparently Hercules and a lion, but the setting was entirely corroded. The Dorset County Museum acquired possession of the sword-handle and of the intaglio in March, 1906. In addition to the continental sword-handle now in the British Museum, and figured in Archaeologia,* I should like to draw attention to similarity of design between this recent Dorchester find and the sword depicted on the monument of the Roman centurion at the Colchester Museum. It is interesting to note that there have been frequent discoveries of Roman antiquities in the immediate vicinity of the spot where the handle was unearthed, viz. within 100 yards, three portions of tessellated pavements, one in 1896, another four years later, and a third in January 1906; a small image of Mercury described in Hutchins’s History of Dorset;* several specimens of Samian ware; supports of floor over a hypocaust; objects of Kimmeridge shale and other smaller relics, roof tiles, etc. Portions of the pavements and all the other Roman antiquities retrieved are now in the County Museum. These discoveries tend to confirm the Roman origin of the hilt.” *Vol xlv. 251; and Proceedings 2nd S. III. 322. * 3rd ed. ii, 394.