Collections Online
Amgueddfa Cymru – Museum Wales
Advanced Search
Roman stone ornamental screen
There are traces in the the upper surface of two dowel-holes, one close to either end, and two rounded depressions hollowed by wear, with that on the left-hand side being very pronounced. Both side-edges bear extensive chisel marks, which are presumably the result of cutting the screen to size. A deep rebate runs the full length of the left-hand edge, which may have been used as a form of fixing, perhaps for the interlocking screen.
Brewer, R.J. (1986: 43, No. 62) notes Eric Birley's (Arch. Ael. 4 - xiii, 223-4) suggesion that the worn hollows in the upper surfaces of the Vindolanda screen slabs (reused as paving), with a similar phenomenon exhibited by the two surviving Caerleon screens, were the result, over many years, of the monetary transactions that had taken place beneath the grille.
Reconsideration of the Caerleon screens (see also 31.78/27.3) by Lewis, M.R.T. (forthcoming, 2025) and comparison of wear and cut marks in the upper surfaces of these screens with large whetstones within the collection of the National Roman Legion Museum, especially from Usk, suggests that they had been extensively used to sharpen blades, e.g. swords, perhaps ritually to embue them with apotropaic or other supernaturally protective qualities derived from or at the fortress aedes.
Collection Area
Item Number
Find Information
Site Name: School Field, Caerleon
Notes: Found re-used as a paving slab in the late floor of a room in the building formerly identified as a basilica exercitatoria, but now shown to be a location of industrial activity producing large quantities of iron slag.