Researching the Roman Collections of the Yorkshire Museum
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Old Collections, New Questions: Researching the Roman Collections of the Yorkshire Museum Emily Tilley (ed.) 2018 Page 1 of 124 Contents Introduction .............................................................................................................. 5 1. Research Agenda .............................................................................................. 7 1.1. Introduction ..................................................................................................... 8 1.2. Previous Research Projects ............................................................................ 9 1.3. Potential ......................................................................................................... 10 1.4. Organisations ................................................................................................. 12 1.5. Themes .......................................................................................................... 15 2. An Overview of the Roman Collections ......................................................... 21 2.1. Introduction ................................................................................................... 22 2.2. Summary of Provenance ............................................................................... 24 2.3. The Artefacts: Introduction ........................................................................... 25 2.4. Stone Monuments and Sculpture ................................................................ 26 2.5. Construction Materials .................................................................................. 30 2.6. Material Associated with the Internal Decoration of Buildings .................. 34 2.7. Tools and Implements ................................................................................... 36 2.8. Glass Vessels ................................................................................................. 40 2.9. Pottery ............................................................................................................ 41 2.10. Objects Associated with Lighting .............................................................. 46 2.11. Figurines ..................................................................................................... 48 2.12. Military Equipment ..................................................................................... 50 2.13. Items of Personal Adornment ................................................................... 52 2.14. Toilet and Medical Items ........................................................................... 57 2.15. Gaming Pieces ........................................................................................... 57 2.16. Votive Items................................................................................................ 58 2.17. Other Objects ............................................................................................. 60 2.18. Leather ....................................................................................................... 62 2.19. Textile ......................................................................................................... 62 2.20. Human Remains ........................................................................................ 62 2.21. Animal Bone ............................................................................................... 63 2.22. Documentation .......................................................................................... 64 2.23. Summary Assessment of the Roman Collections.................................... 65 Page 2 of 124 3. A Research Plan for the Roman Archaeology Collections ............................... 69 3.1. Introduction ................................................................................................... 70 3.2. The Research Potential of the Roman Collections...................................... 71 3.3. Research Projects, 1: additions to existing corpuses ................................. 74 3.4. Research Projects, 2: application of new research techniques ................. 80 3.5. Research Projects, 3: Site Specific Projects ................................................ 83 3.6. The Study of Roman Archaeology in York .................................................... 85 4. Roman Numismatics Research Strategy ........................................................ 87 4.1. Structure and potential of the YMT Roman numismatics collection ......... 88 4.1.1. The systematic collection .......................................................................... 88 4.1.2. Local stray finds ......................................................................................... 91 4.1.3. Miscellanea ................................................................................................ 91 4.1.4. Coin Hoards ................................................................................................ 92 4.2. Potential Research Questions ...................................................................... 97 4.2.1. Coin finds as evidence of the Roman conquest of Yorkshire ................. 97 4.2.2. The end of Roman Yorkshire: precious metal hoards ............................. 99 4.2.3. The impact of an imperial presence in Eboracum? ............................. 101 4.2.4. Counterfeiting coins in the mid-3rd century ......................................... 103 4.2.5. Counterfeiting coins in the mid-4th century ......................................... 106 4.2.6. Coins for the dead .................................................................................. 108 4.2.7. An antiquarian collection: the Cook collection ..................................... 108 4.3. Conclusion .................................................................................................. 109 5. Bibliography ................................................................................................... 110 6. Appendices .................................................................................................... 120 6.1. Appendix 1 .................................................................................................. 120 6.2. Appendix 2 .................................................................................................. 120 6.3. Appendix 3 .................................................................................................. 122 6.4. Appendix 4 .................................................................................................. 122 6.5. Appendix 5 .................................................................................................. 123 6.6. Appendix 6 .................................................................................................. 123 6.7. Appendix 7 .................................................................................................. 123 Page 3 of 124 Authors Vincent Drost is a freelance numismatics consultant and former project curator at the British Museum. Natalie Buy is former Curator of Archaeology at the Yorkshire Museum Patrick Ottaway is an archaeological consultant and author of Roman York and Roman Yorkshire. Adam Parker is Assistant Curator of Archaeology at the Yorkshire Museum. Emily Tilley is Collections Facilitator, Roman Archaeology at the Yorkshire Museum. Andrew Woods is Senior Curator at the Yorkshire Museum. Abbreviations YMT York Museums Trust YAT York Archaeological Trust RA Research Agenda RIB Roman Inscriptions of Britain RIC Roman Imperial Coinage Page 4 of 124 Introduction Andrew R. Woods This document draws together four others created as a part of the ‘Old Collections, New Questions’ project undertaken by York Museums Trust. This project focused upon the Yorkshire Museum’s Roman collection. This collection is designated, and is amongst the strongest in country, but much was uncovered in the nineteenth century. The current project has sought to determine what new information modern research questions and methods could uncover about these historic collections. As much as it has been about uncovering new information the project has also been about establishing an agenda for how the collections can be pro-actively used for research. The project has confirmed our belief that there is huge research potential amongst the Roman collections. It is a hope that the following will outline a path towards the use of these long-standing collections in new, innovative and engaging ways, ensuring that their full potential is realised. The resources below are organised into four sections. A distinction is maintained between the archaeological and numismatic collection reflecting their differing collections’ histories and curatorial responsibilities. The sections are as follows: 1 Research Agenda. This sets out the over-arching themes and questions for the interpretation of the collections. It also introduces the collections, previous research and other repositories of Roman material in York. 2 Overview of the Archaeology Collections. This provides a detailed discussion of the strengths of the archaeological collections. 3 Archaeology Research Plan. This establishes the possible avenues of research using objects from the archaeological collections. 4 Numismatic Research Strategy. This provides a brief overview of the collection alongside a plan for possible research projects. These documents represent the work of a number of authors. The Research Agenda (1) has been written by Emily Tilley,