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Themes in Archaeology.

AG115001S.

Plate 1. Two handled beaker from the Water Newton treasure.

Religion & Ritual.

ARU 0863205.

Word count; 1,870.

Phil Hill.

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Contents.

Page 2. List of illustrations.

Page 3. Introduction.

Page 3. The Water Newton Treasure.

Page 7. Interpretations.

Page 9. Conclusion.

Page 10. References & Bibliography.

List of illustrations.

All photographs are courtesy of the British Museum digital image

service.

Page 1. Plate 1. A two handled beaker from the Water Newton treasure.

Page 4. Plate 2. The Water Newton Treasure.

Page 4. Plate 3. A plaque from the treasure.

Page 5. Figure 1. ІΧθΥΣ.

Page 6. Plate 4. Inscribed bowl from the hoard.

Page 6. Plate 5. Poor workmanship?

Page 8. Plate 6. The Mildenhall hoard.

Page 11. Figure 2. Bacchus.

Page 11. Plate 7. Cantharus.

Page 12. Plate 8. The Water Newton strainer.

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Introduction.

The subject of this report is the Water Newton treasure; the report will

give a detailed analysis of the treasure and will look at the way that

archaeologists interpreted the finds. At the time of the discovery there

were two conflicting arguments about its’ use even though all concerned

were convinced of the religious nature of the finds. There does not

appear to have been a re-interpretation of the treasure since it was put

on display in The British Museum in the 1970’s. The purpose of this

report is to re-examine the original findings and then to apply modern

archaeological thinking to the evidence.

The Water Newton Treasure.

Much mystery surrounds the discovery, in a field on the banks of the

River Nene close to the Roman town of Durobrivae Catuvelorum, of a

hoard of silver items in 1975. The finder was a well-known local metal

detectorist with a dubious reputation for treasure hunting and night

hawking. Several weeks after he uncovered the hoard he reported them

to a local archaeological group the Nene Valley Archaeological Trust. He

claimed to have discovered the hoard in a rabbit hole in a field near the

Roman town but when he took the archaeologists to the area he could

not find the exact site! The areas he showed to the archaeologists were

considered unlikely to have contained any such hoard. They concluded,

without any evidence, that he probably had been metal detecting within

the scheduled area and that is why he kept the finds secret for several

weeks. At the time any finds of this nature should have been reported to

the coroner’s office, as part of the treasure act, and the coroner would

have to decide if the hoard was treasure trove or not, and so who should

be the rightful owner.

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During 1974 an unnamed metal detectorist had discovered a hoard of 30

gold Roman coins in Durobrivae, these were presented to the coroner’s

office at the time of discovery. The treasure seeker escaped prosecution

but received no reward for his discovery.

Plate 2. The Water Newton Treasure.

The Water Newton treasure consists of 27 silver items including 3 bowls,

a flagon, a large plate, a two handled cup, a wine strainer, a hanging

bowl and a damaged jug. The most

numerous pieces were parts of

triangular ‘bunting’ type plaques.

Three were almost complete and

there were enough parts to make

another 12 or more plaques.

The single most important feature of

the entire collection is that 15 items

bear the Chi-Rho symbol.

Plate 3. A plaque from the treasure showing the Chi-Rho and α & ω.

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This symbol, sometimes referred to as XP, is an early Christian symbol

for Jesus Christ. It is taken from the Greek alphabet and spells out the

first two letters of CHRISTOS.

Another common early Christian motif included is α X ω. This represents

Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, as it was, so shall it be.

Renfrew & Bahn mention that, “it is usually impossible to infer the

meaning of a symbol within a given culture from the symbolic form of the

image alone” (Renfrew & Bahn 2008, p399) but these symbols have

been passed down and are recognizable today. Chi-Rho comes from the

Greek word XPΙΣΤΟΣ or CHRISTOS and has been shortened to XP or

even sometimes just X as in XMAS for Christmas. Another version of

the XP is the Greek fish called IXθΥΣ or icthus. This is an acrostic where

the word is formed from each first letter of other words, in this case

Ieosus Christos Theou Yios Soter. Jesus Christ, God’s Son, Saviour.

Stand the fish on its tail and it looks a little like the Chi-Rho.

Figure 1. Icthus and similarity to Chi-Rho.

If there was any doubt that the treasure represented Christian worship it

would have been dispelled by the inscriptions on some of the bowls.

One in particular;

Publianos sanctum altere tuum domine sub nixus honoro. Translated to

“I Publianos honour your holy altar oh Lord, in the name of Christ.

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Plate 4. Inscribed bowl from the treasure.

The style of the Chi-Rho with an open ‘R’ shape dates the hoard to the

latter half of the 3rd Century AD before the legalisation of Christianity in

Roman law. The type of silverware and the decoration means that it is

likely to have been made locally. Interestingly there are silly mistakes in

the inscriptions, there are two interpretations for this; one is that the

items were made by a non-Christian who didn’t know what should have

been written, the other is that the items were made by a Christian who

was not a silversmith.

Plate 5. Poor quality workmanship? Or made in secret?

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In the first example the ω (omega) symbol is upside down and in the

second ω is not only upside down but is on the wrong side, it should

follow α (alpha). This kind of mistake is unlikely to have been made by a

Christian silversmith.

The hoard was buried sometime in the 4th Century and this too is a

mystery. All the archaeologists agree that is was buried during a time of

religious persecution or social upheaval by the practising Christians of

Durobrivae. The coroner decided, on the advice of the British Museum,

that it had been deposited before 316AD and that it was treasure trove.

If it had been buried after 316AD (the date for the legalisation of the

Christian church) then the hoard would have been declared church plate

and therefore the property of the church. It is now on display in the

British Museum!

Interpretations.

The original finder presented the hoard to the members of the Nene

Valley Archaeological Trust for analysis. The trust decided that the finds

represented proof that the early Roman Christians had celebrated the

Eucharist or Communion. This is the ritual eating and drinking to

represent the flesh and blood of Christ and that the hoard was proof of

Roman church buildings in Britain.

The archaeologists from the British Museum weren’t so sure, “it is

tempting to identify the plates with the ritual of Communion. However

there is NO evidence to suggest that early Christians celebrated the

Eucharist. It is equally feasible to argue for ritual feasting using the

collection of plates found” (Grant et al 2007 p186).

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This is the view taken when describing the Mildenhall hoard which was

found in 1941 in equally mysterious circumstances. The similarities

between the Mildenhall hoard and the Water Newton treasure are

remarkable.

Plate 6. The Mildenhall hoard.

The Mildenhall treasure consists of 30 items of silver. The major

difference is that only 3 are marked with any Christian symbols. The

three smallest spoons are marked with Chi-Rho devices, all the other

items are marked with ‘pagan’ symbols including effigies of Mars,

Bacchus, Pan and Hermes. The Mildenhall treasure has only ever been

labelled a pagan, ritual feasting collection. Another example is the

Hoxne hoard, discovered in the 1990’s again in Suffolk. A large

collection of silver ritual plates, spoons and sieves as well as 1,500

Roman coins dating the collection to the late 4th Century AD. None of the

Hoxne items have any Christian symbols but many have pagan symbols.

Once more a pagan ritual collection.

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All three collections were made at around the same time (late 3rd

Century AD); all three collections were buried at around the same time

(4th Century AD). Why should the archaeologists interpret the hoards so

differently? Is it simply because of the Chi-Rho motifs?

Conclusion.

The archaeologists differed in their opinions not because of their

religious beliefs but because of their archaeological interests. The

members of the Nene Valley Archaeological Trust were ‘old school’

archaeologists whom it seemed wanted to find Christian worship, one of

the leading members of the trust went on to become Vicar of St

Kynaburghas church in Castor (Burke 2003). Maybe they were ultra-

modern post-processualists using a constructivist approach to apply

modern Christianity to Roman Christians. Either way they were at odds

with the archaeologists from the British Museum who were processualist

in their interpretation. There was not enough evidence to confirm that

this find was Communion or Eucharistic plate, the data simply did not

support this theory.

However, using evidence and data from other sites and finds it is

possible to suggest that the Water Newton treasure is Communion plate

not because of continuity or worship in the Christian church but because

of continuity of worship by pagan groups.

Roman pagans generally only followed one god….at a time, whether

that was Vesta, Apollo, Sol Invictus or any one of dozens of others.

However they would often ‘hedge their bets’ and include other minor

deities in their feasts just in case their own chosen god wasn’t up to the

task. Two of these other minor gods who were very popular all across

the Roman world were Bacchus and Mithras.

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Bacchus was the god of food and drink, of partying and celebration

whereas Mithras was the god of courage, fortitude, honesty, truth and

light. An example of this practice was the inclusion of Bacchus at the

feast of Saturnalia. During this feast a pine tree was decorated with

baubles and streamers and an effigy of Bacchus was seated on top to

watch over the proceedings and ensure good fortune. Mithraic temples

were decorated with triangular plaques to represent the trinity, of

Mithras, the sword of truth and the staff of light. The followers of both

Bacchus and Mithras recognised the alpha and omega, as it was – so

shall it be. The 25th of December is the birth date of Mithras, the cult of

Mithras was first recognised in Persia in about 400BC. Both cults had a

ritual where water was turned into wine by the priest or head of

household and then passed around the congregation and both cults also

had a ritual where initiates partook of the flesh and blood of the god. All

these things were going on for hundreds of years before Jesus’ birth. At

the council of Nicea in 325 AD the Emperor Constantine (306-337) set

out what he wanted for the Christian church. It was at this council, or one

held in 353 AD at Arles that the 25th December was adopted as Jesus’

birthday, Sunday was adopted as the Sabbath, before this date Saturday

had been the Sabbath because until 325 AD Christianity had been seen

as just another Jewish sect. The Emperor Constantine who converted to

Christianity in 312 AD on the eve of the battle of the Milvian Bridge never

extinguished the vestal flame. It was said that if the Vestal flame went

out Rome would fall. Theodosius (379-394) finally closed the temple of

Vesta and extinguished the flame in 394 AD. Within a year he was dead

and within a decade Rome was in complete chaos.

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It has been shown that the early Christian church borrowed some

practices from the earlier pagan religions. The Water Newton treasure

has evidence for this which the earlier archaeologists did not consider,

either because their judgement was clouded by their own preconceived

ideas or because they didn’t see it as raw data.

The image on the right is taken from a 4th

Century Roman Villa, it shows Bacchus. He is

always shown carrying a pomegranate branch

and a cantharus, a two handled ritual wine

goblet which would be passed around the

congregation.

Figure 2. Bacchus.

The image on the left is from the

Water Newton treasure, it is clearly

a cantharus. It is also the only item

from the hoard that is unmarked in

any way. The wine strainer from the

hoard has been repaired with a

new handle and it is thought that

the Chi-Rho was added at a later

date. By leaving the cantharus plain

were these early Christians

‘hedging their bets’ too?

Plate 7. A cantharus.

It has been shown that both sets of archaeologists were probably right,

but for completely different reasons. The Eucharist IS ritual feasting

although most Christians would be horrified to hear it described that

way.

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References.

Renfrew & Bahn, Archaeology, theory methods and practice. 2008.

Thames & Hudson, London.

Grant, Gorin & Flemming, The archaeology course book. 2008.

Routledge Oxford.

Burke. Who was Innocentia? 2003. Paper presented to the Burgh

Society of Antiquaries.

Bibliography.

http://www.romanempire.net accessed 27th November 2009.

http://www.hoxne.net accessed 28th November 2009.

http://www.mildenhallmuseum.com accessed 28th November 2009.

http://www.vexen.co.uk accessed 27th November 2009.

http://www.mysteriousbritain.co.uk accessed 27th November 2009.

Fincham G. 2004. Durobrivae, a Roman town between fen and uplands.

Tempus, Stroud, Gloucs.

Plate 8. The strainer, repaired and Chi-Rho added later.