Linz Posted January 27, 2019 Share Posted January 27, 2019 Hi all. I am very new to the forum and am turning to you for help about 2 Roman anvils found at a site in West Berkshire, UK. Both were found in the same field and close to a Roman villa. The first one is approximately 180mm tall, 190mm wide and 100mm deep (weighs 18Kg). It has a hole in the top (pritchel or hardie??) which comes through the front in an open groove. Can you tell me why it does this? Would the hole be to hold tools or to make and head nails as some sources imply? There is also a small (10mm by 5mm deep) hole centrally based in the base (2nd image). Would this be to locate it and stop it moving? The 2nd anvil I don't have details for but it is a simple block anvil, slightly tapering at one end to insert into a tree stump or something similar I presume. Does anyone have any references so I can read up about these items. I believe they are quite scarce so to have 2 in the same field is rare indeed. I would be very grateful for any help understanding these great finds. Thank you, Linz. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
basher Posted January 27, 2019 Share Posted January 27, 2019 What a great find. the hole on the top of the anvil could be for mounting small anvil stakes that would have a rod on the bottom of them that goes into the hole. to loosen them you could tap from below. or the hole could be used for punching through material. the slot would allow the divot (displaced disk of punched material) to be knocked through the work piece. its quite possible that the bottom hole is for a stake of some kind to mount the block into wood. I would not be at all surprised if the anvil had some kind of horn on it at some point, it looks to me like the original outline is corroded and this is eaten away.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marc1 Posted January 27, 2019 Share Posted January 27, 2019 The hole in the second picture has way too neat edges to be original. But what would I know ... it could be to shape nail heads. Roman? so what ... 2000 years old? Wow, hard to believe. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Linz Posted January 27, 2019 Author Share Posted January 27, 2019 Thank you Basher and Mark for your comments. I did wonder whether there had possibly been a horn present which had been knocked off. We've dated the villa which is less than 100m from both anvil find spots, to roughly AD 350 - 380, so quite late Roman. A few coins and weights have also been found near the find spots. The base hole does look sharp I agree so we'll need to do a bit more detective work on that! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timber Ridge Forge Posted January 27, 2019 Share Posted January 27, 2019 Man you made my day. I went to college and Ancient Rome was my main focus of study. I would suggest checking out a book called . Artefacts in Roman Britain: Their Purpose and Use edited by Lindsay Allason-Jones The book has some great historical information on Roman anvils. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Linz Posted January 27, 2019 Author Share Posted January 27, 2019 Many thanks for the tip TRF, it's now in my Amazon shopping basket! Glad to hear you're interested in the Roman period too. Whilst excavating the villa in 2017 we uncovered half of a remarkable mosaic floor (google Boxford mosaic). Back this year to record the whole thing! The anvils were found by metal detecting a good number of years before my group started working there but I'm writing the metalwork report so thought I should include them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FlatLiner Posted January 27, 2019 Share Posted January 27, 2019 What a awesome find. Keep us informed on them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timber Ridge Forge Posted January 28, 2019 Share Posted January 28, 2019 That’s a beautiful mosaic. My father was an archaeologist. I once went on a Native American dig with him. I got admit as a kid it wasn’t nearly as cool as I think it is now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daswulf Posted January 28, 2019 Share Posted January 28, 2019 As much as a historical find it is, do you know how much willpower it would take me to Not clean them up and forge on them? Haha. Awesome finds. Wish my metal detecting found me something as awesome. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JHCC Posted January 28, 2019 Share Posted January 28, 2019 Just call it “experimental archaeology”, and you can get yourself a grant! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daswulf Posted January 28, 2019 Share Posted January 28, 2019 Done! Where do I sign up! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glenn Posted January 28, 2019 Share Posted January 28, 2019 Did you look for a weight or maybe a date on the anvils. Most likely it will be in Roman Numerals. (grin) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted January 28, 2019 Share Posted January 28, 2019 Wouldn't be marked. Have you seen the roman anvil at the Museum at Bath---and if I recall they also had a tombstone with smithing tools depicted. Ordered a copy of that book from abebooks.com Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cincinnatus Posted January 28, 2019 Share Posted January 28, 2019 Another image of a Roman blacksmith. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Linz Posted January 28, 2019 Author Share Posted January 28, 2019 Thanks all for the great comments and interest. I haven't yet seen the anvil at Bath so must make a trip over that way sometime. There are some wonderful carvings on tombstones, I especially like the one Cincinnatus posted. here's another from 1st century. In Rome and Pompeii (and other parts of Italy, they had a different style of anvil with a concave base forming four 'feet'. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JHCC Posted January 28, 2019 Share Posted January 28, 2019 On 1/27/2019 at 9:48 AM, Timber Ridge Forge said: Artefacts in Roman Britain: Their Purpose and Use edited by Lindsay Allason-Jones Ooh, the college where I work has a copy in the library! Excellent! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cincinnatus Posted January 28, 2019 Share Posted January 28, 2019 What is even more amazing is that we use tools the resemble the tools they used 2000+ years ago. Our metallurgy is more precise and the steels are harder but they used tong, hammers, anvils, and fire. Kind of neat to think about. Went to Pompeii last year and saw what was described as a blacksmith shop in the city. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kozzy Posted January 28, 2019 Share Posted January 28, 2019 I'm a bit thrown off by the first photo That appears to be a tube...cast iron surrounding? A quick bit of digging implies they were forged of sponge iron and not cast but that sure does look like a tube was inserted in the photo--maybe it's a distortion from the view? A delamination and not a separate tube? And for those pondering whether they might actually be more modern--here is a known roman anvil that's almost a dead match. The site says it's a nail making hole. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted January 28, 2019 Share Posted January 28, 2019 I don't think applying for a grant to use the artifacts would be considered, maybe a good way to get banished form the museum though. Duplicate and use it might work. The carvings show artists were as much slaves to accuracy then as they are now. The seated smith's anvil is WAY too high, he'd be heeling every blow and the second carving shows the origin of the joke. "When I nod my head hit it!" Thanks for the links, I love this stuff. Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Linz Posted January 28, 2019 Author Share Posted January 28, 2019 I can see where you are coming from Kozzy but here is another angle which shows it more as a rather scrappy gouge. The example above is from a shipwreck off Turkey and is a great comparison. What actually is sponge iron and is a 'nail making hole' feasible? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anvil Posted January 31, 2019 Share Posted January 31, 2019 When looking at Kozzy's pic, you can see a shadowd round ring around the hole. Perhaps made from many around headed nails. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George N. M. Posted January 31, 2019 Share Posted January 31, 2019 Having a hole in the anvil as a nail header strikes me as impractical rather than a separate tool because of the difficulty in removing the nail after it is headed. Often the nail has to be tapped out of the header from the bottom. It strikes me that this would be difficult if the nail was down in the anvil. Also, just making a hole in the anvil for this purpose would be much more difficult than making a nail header. Occam's Razor would argue that the hole is a pritchel hole or a tool holding site. Also, the hole is round while the roman nails I have seen have all been square (when they were not too rusted to tell the original shape.) Possibly a bit of experimental archaeology is called for. BTW, what is the diameter of the hole? "By hammer and hand all arts do stand." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lyuv Posted January 31, 2019 Share Posted January 31, 2019 Quote I assume nails were the most common item made by the blacksmith. So it make sense to have a special feature for it in the anvil. And I think this form is very functional: Yes, the nail is square. But this shape is formed by the hammer and anvil's face. Not a tool. The head is round, and this hole is good for it. As for removal - you can tap the nail sideways from the open channel's side. As the nail is tapered, it will tilt and loosen. Are there common nails of the period to be compared to the hole's size? (+1 on experimental archeology) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kozzy Posted January 31, 2019 Share Posted January 31, 2019 On 1/28/2019 at 1:17 PM, Linz said: I can see where you are coming from Kozzy but here is another angle which shows it more as a rather scrappy gouge. The example above is from a shipwreck off Turkey and is a great comparison. What actually is sponge iron and is a 'nail making hole' feasible? The sponge is the raw iron bloom before all the slag has been hammered out. Hammering out all the slag is a lot of work and on something big like an anvil requires several re-heats so sometimes on rough work that part is cut a bit short--and leaves a big block like might be used for an anvil a bit more spongy than something more important like the parts you'd be making on the anvil. I assumed that nailmaking at that time would lean more toward what we now call spikes..and it would be similar in that you'd have a separate header which sits over the hole when making the heads. However, I'm not a new-ager channeling an ancient roman smith so might be full of Sterquilinus (google says that's roman for manure). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted January 31, 2019 Share Posted January 31, 2019 Re: spikes; you may want to look at the hobnailed boots that the roman army used. Fairly small nails. Also seven tons of Roman nails were found in a single find in Scotland in the 1960's providing a pretty good statistical universe to look at them through. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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