Summary

Four saddle mounts of copper alloy, marked SIINIICIO (Senecio) to indicate ownership, from the Roman site at Newstead, 80 - 100 AD

Accession Number

X.FRA 130

Other references

Original description

NEWSTEAD COLLECTION. Four objects of bronze of unknown use p.177. Pl. XXXII, "Rom. Fron. Post.". Updated from SCRAN full data set, December 1998. [MoS description] Letters of authority. Literacy in Scotland - a weapon of the Roman state. Literacy among the soldiers. (29) Saddle mounts, Newstead. SIINIICIO, 'Senecio'. 80 - 100 AD. [Scran caption] These bronze objects are from the Roman fort at Newstead in Roxburghshire. Only when a virtually complete Roman saddle was found in Holland was it realised what they were - mounts to stiffen projections at each corner of a saddle. All the mounts bear scratched inscriptions, identifying the owner and his unit. The outside of the mounts would probably have been covered with leather to grip the leather of the saddle more effectively. Date: Between 80 and 100 AD. Material: Bronze. Dimensions: Length of longest mount: 20 cm. References - Clarke, D.V., Breeze, D.J., and Mackay, G. The Romans in Scotland. An introduction to the collections of the National Museums of Antiquities of Scotland. Edinburgh: National Museum of Antiquities of Scotland, 1980, p 70.; Connolly, P. 'The Roman Saddle' in: Dawson, M. (ed.) Roman Military Equipment: The Accoutrements of War. Oxford: BAR, pp 7-27; Curle, J. A Roman frontier post and its people: the fort of Newstead. Glasgow: MacLehose, 1911, pp 177-8, pl XXXII.

Associated person/people (e.g. excavator/former collection)

Newstead Collection

Discovery / field collection

Date of discovery

1905

Method (e.g. excavation)

Excavated

Place (i.e. location of discovery)

Newstead, Roxburghshire, Scotland, Northern Europe

Grid reference

Not recorded

Acquisition

Acquisition date

1914

Acquisition source (i.e. name of donor)

Unknown

Acquisition source role (e.g. donor)

Not recorded

Image