The North East has a proud tradition of seafaring and naval service – and a metal detectorist’s stunning find has just back dated that by almost 2,000 years.
A Roman fleet diploma, detailing the 26-year naval career of its holder, was found on land near Lanchester Roman fort in County Durham by Mark Houston.
The individual who was presented with the copper alloy diploma on his honourable retirement is Britain’s first named sailor.
And the find is the first complete fleet diploma to be discovered in this country.
On July 20 the diploma will be unveiled in Durham City as part of the National Festival of Archaeology.
It will go on show at Durham University’s Museum of Archaeology in Palace Green library.
It records how the holder, named Tigernos, served in the Classis Germanica – the Roman fleet in Germany.
How a young man, from what is now County Durham , came to spent a large chunk of his life on Roman ships in Germany, is one of the intriguing questions raised by the discovery – as is the sort of reception he received on returning 26 years later.
When issued around AD150 by the Emperor Antonius Pius, the diploma would have consisted of two rectangular bronze plates which were attached together with metal wires.
Inside would be details such as the career record of the holder, who he served under and what he did, while on the outside was a summary with a list of witnesses. This diploma lists seven witnesses.
Similar diplomas were issued to Roman soldiers after 25 years of army service.
They granted the holder and his children Roman citizenship and the legal right of marriage.
Pieces would be broken off and given to the children to prove their rights, which is why finding complete examples is so rare.
The diploma granted to Tigernos was found stacked in eight pieces. It has been undergoing conservation treatment and research by Dr Roger Tomlin from Oxford University.
The name Tigernos means “king” or “master” and his father is referred to as Magiotigernus, which means “great master”.
This raises the possibility, says Museum of Archaeology curator Gemma Lewis, that father and son were high status individuals in Roman Lanchester.
As such, Tigernos would have been ideal material to be ‘Romanised’ and given a military posting to serve the empire.
“Fleet diplomas are exceptionally rare in the Roman empire. They would have been very valuable to their holders, and this one is fascinating,” said Gemma.
The National Festival of Archaeology, coordinated by the Council for British Archaeology, runs from July 15-30.
On July 20 at the Durham museum, there will be a series of short public talks from 3pm-5.30pm on the diploma and its history.
Other festival events at the museum include on July 15 from 11am-2pm a finds session in which people can bring objects along for identification and on July 29 from 11am-3pm the Roma Antiqua re-enactment group will demonstrate the lives and skills of Roman soldiers.
The Binchester Roman festival in County Durham will span July 15-16 with re-enactment groups giving demonstrations of Roman combat techniques and displays of weapons.
They will be accompanied by Barbaratus the cavalryman who will demonstrate fighting on horseback against the backdrop of a Roman street lined with the stalls of artisans and craftspeople illustrating aspects of life in Roman Britain.
There will also be site tours explaining the history of the fort site and its exploration including the remains of its well-preserved bath building.
Events start at 11am and are repeated at 2pm.
July 15-16: St Cuthbert’s Land, a living history group based in the North East, are at Bamburgh Castle with a living encampment and demonstrations including cooking and warfare.
July 15: Archaeologist Paul Frodsham will lead a walk up the “sacred mountain” of Simonside above Rothbury from Lordenshaws car park. To book, email: firstname.lastname@example.org
July 26: 7.30pm-9pm. Cresswell village hall, archaeologist Barry Mead will give an illustrated talk on the recent community archaeology project linked to the village’s 15th Century pele tower.
July 30: 11am-4pm. Explore the Rothbury training trenches constructed by the 18th Battalion Northumberland Fusiliers in 1915. Shuttle bus will run from Haugh Car Park, Whitton Bank Road, Rothbury.
Tyne and Wear:
July 28: 11am-3pm, Stephenson Railway Museum, Middle Engine Lane. North Shields.
Find out about the Willington waggonway, the best preserved and most complete section of early wooden railway to have been excavated anywhere in the world.
There will be an exhibition on the rescue and of part of the North East’s railway heritage from its riverside site near Swan Hunter’s shipyard.