The wonder of Roman Britain goes on display at The Bowes Museum

Roman artefacts unearthed during major road improvements in North Yorkshire have gone on display in Barnard Castle.
During the past three years, a team of about 80 people have been digging in and around Cataractonium – the walled Roman town of Catterick and the former site of two Roman forts – where the A1 is being upgraded to a motorway.
More than 200,000 prehistoric and Roman artefacts have been found and many can now be seen as part of an exhibition at The Bowes Museum. Items on show include brooches, coins, pottery and military pieces as well as items relating to personal dress. Archaeologists from Barnard Castle firm Northern Archaeological Associates, working on behalf of the Carillion Morgan-Sindall joint venture, have described the site as a “once-in-a-lifetime” project.
Post excavation manager Dr Hannah Russ said: “This scheme has been massively prolific in terms of finds.
“We have had surprises everyday. We literally have tonnes of them. It is safe to say we have found more than we expected. You name it and we have it.
“The quality of what we have been finding is very good too. Some of them look as if they were made yesterday.”
Archaeological clerk of works Dr Jonathan Shipley works for Aecom who have been helping to manage the project.
He said: “It is a once-in-a-lifetime project to work on in terms of the quality and the quantity of the artefacts.”
Among the star finds was a rare engraved gemstone which depicts Hercules and the lion as well as a brass-plated Roman boot spur and a bronze-plated Roman pennanular brooch, which were initially believed to be gold.
Dr Russ said: “We thought we had found gold so there was lots of excitement but it turns out they must have been mixing materials to get a gold colour.
“One of the theories is that they were made to look like gold to portray some sort of importance but they are low value materials. We were a bit red-faced but it is interesting to see what people were doing in the past to make things look more expensive than they were.” A fragment of ring-mail armour, which has been cleaned to show the rings, is also on display at the museum.
Finds and excavation project officer Dr Elizabeth Foulds said: “It is quite a rare object to find. We have been very lucky.”
The exhibition launched at the weekend with a special family open day with lots of archaeology-related activities.
Dr Shipley said: “People should come along and see it because it is a chance to really engage with their heritage.
“People know the A1 as a road and pass up and down but they are not always aware of the history either side of them.The feedback that we have had so far is that locals are really interested.”
So far a total of two-and-a-half tonnes of pottery has been found as well as 2.7 tonnes of animal bones.
Dr Russ added: “They will be available to see in Yorkshire Museum by about 2020 but it is great that they are here while things are still active in the field.
“The main site we have been excavating is starting to calm down but we understand there are further works coming up so there may be more.”