The Lemon Fool

Stoke Mandeville: Roman sculptures HS2 find astounding, expert says

BBC News

Archaeologists have uncovered an "astounding" set of Roman sculptures on the HS2 rail link route.

"Two complete sculptures of what appear to be a man and a woman, plus the head of a child, were found at an abandoned medieval church in Buckinghamshire."

Very interesting, but there was no info on what the statues were made of. From the detail in the carving, the woman's head looks more like marble than just limestone, and if that is the case, it must have been imported perhaps from Italy, perhaps in its finished state. I wonder if a Roman expat bigwig brought it with him, to remind him of his parents?

Nimrod103 wrote:Very interesting, but there was no info on what the statues were made of. From the detail in the carving, the woman's head looks more like marble than just limestone.

Hmmm, the man's bust looks like standard grade Cotswold limestone to me. It wouldn't be native to Stoke Mandeville, or at least not in sculpting quality, but there's plenty of it within a 50/60 mile radius. Bath is full of the stuff.

Brilliant find, though! I came across this 2014 survey of the churchyard area, which was prompted by the HS2 proposals. Quite brief, well illustrated and generally fascinating. http://www.bucksas.org.uk/documents/hs2 ... eophys.pdf

BJ

bungeejumper wrote:

Nimrod103 wrote:Very interesting, but there was no info on what the statues were made of. From the detail in the carving, the woman's head looks more like marble than just limestone.

Hmmm, the man's bust looks like standard grade Cotswold limestone to me. It wouldn't be native to Stoke Mandeville, or at least not in sculpting quality, but there's plenty of it within a 50/60 mile radius. Bath is full of the stuff.

Brilliant find, though! I came across this 2014 survey of the churchyard area, which was prompted by the HS2 proposals. Quite brief, well illustrated and generally fascinating. http://www.bucksas.org.uk/documents/hs2 ... eophys.pdf

BJ

It is a possibility that it is local Cotswold stone, though there are doubts in my mind:
1) the standard of sculpture is really very good compared to other Roman stone carvings I have seen from the UK
2) the story seems to be that the statures were discarded in a ditch some time in later Roman times, or maybe as late as Norman times. Even if buried early, if they were of local limestone, I think they would have become weathered and corroded in the ground. The woman's features seemed remarkably crisp. The other statue was in a much worse condition.