Volunteer archaeologists discovered a 1,900-year-old military award ( falera ) in Vindoland, in the north of England , which was awarded to outstanding soldiers and soldiers of the Roman army.
Vindolanda Roman Fort is one of the most important Roman archaeological sites in Europe, located on Stanegate Road.
No fewer than nine Roman forts of wood or stone were built in Vindoland between about 85 and 370 AD, creating one of the most complex archaeological sites in Britain.
It housed soldiers from all over the Roman Empire, including Belgium, Germany and France. The visible stone fort dates back to the third century and includes the fort walls, headquarters building, commander's house, granaries and barracks. The ruins of an extra-mural settlement can be found right outside the walls of the fort. The main street is surrounded by houses, shops, a pub, and a bathhouse.
Excavations at this site are carried out every year and attract hundreds of volunteers from all over the world. Recent excavations have focused on the floor of the barracks, where they found the silver phaler disc that Roman soldiers wore on their breastplates during parades.
A silver military award with the head of Medusa, one of the three terrifying Gorgons of Greek mythology, depicted with her poisonous snake-like hair and piercing eyes that turn onlookers to stone. Medusa's head is carved in relief on a silver faleria, and serves as a kind of apotropaic symbol, that is, a protector. Today, Vindolanda is an active permanent archaeological site, preliminary excavations of which have revealed thousands of archaeological finds, beautifully preserved footwear, textiles, wooden objects and the Vindolanda Tablets (the oldest surviving documents in Britain, dating from the 1st and 2nd centuries AD ).
The discovery was shared on the Vindolanda Trust Twitter account.
