Nail, Iron, Roman (5), Inchtuthil Roman Hoard
Production date
83 CE-87 CE
Country
Scotland
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Object detail
Description
Iron nails from the Roman hoard at Inchtuthil, Perthshire, Scotland, AD 83-90. Group of five iron nails of various sizes. All the nails are square sectioned along the entire length of a tapering shank forming a four sided tapered point (also called a diamond point). All nails appear to have flat, disk like heads. Nails are relatively complete but with significant corrosion to shafts.
Classification
ARCHAEOLOGY Roman nail
Production date
83 CE-87 CE
Production place
Measurements
Part 1 Nail - H175mm x W20mm x D20mm
Part 2 Nail - H160mm x W20mm x D20mm
Part 3 Nail - H120mm x W20mm x D20mm
Part 4 Nail - H90mm x W20mm x D20mm
Part 5 Nail - H45mm x W20mm x D20mm
Part 2 Nail - H160mm x W20mm x D20mm
Part 3 Nail - H120mm x W20mm x D20mm
Part 4 Nail - H90mm x W20mm x D20mm
Part 5 Nail - H45mm x W20mm x D20mm
Media/Materials description
Iron
All five nails have signs of corrosion including loss of density, shape distortion, pitting, flaking and discolouration.
All five nails have signs of corrosion including loss of density, shape distortion, pitting, flaking and discolouration.
History and use
Iron nails of all sizes were easily and quickly made by hand in blacksmith workshops. Yet humble nails represent significant labour – in mining, preparing ore, collecting fuel, building furnaces and smelting iron. Nails were used for a multitude of purposes – in building fortifications, walls and gates, as well as in legionary fortress buildings.
Iron nails of all sizes were made by the Roman legion's blacksmiths in their workshop (fabrica) by smelting the iron ore and forming the nails by hand, producing a square tapered nail with a large head. The larger nails were used to hold the wooden stockade around the fort in place. They were also used to bind the timber roofing of the fort buildings.Such nails are easy to produce quicly and en masse.
This group of nails is from a Roman fort which was built in AD 83, near modern Inchtuthil, as the advance headquarters of the Roman general Gnaeus Julius Agricola (40 AD-93 AD), who played a significant role in the Roman conquest of Britain, holding around 5500 men. The garrison was withdrawn Between AD 87 and 90 and the Roman frontier was pulled back south. As the soldiers departed they left behind nothing that could be of any use to their enemies, and buried the building's hoard of Iron nails in a pit almost four metres in depth and covered it with two metres of soil. When the pit was uncovered in 1951 the cache of nails was discovered: 875,400 nails, in four sizes, weighing approximately seven tonnes.
For more information see M. McConchie, Five iron nails from the Roman hoard at Inchtuthil (Canberra, 2014).
Iron nails of all sizes were made by the Roman legion's blacksmiths in their workshop (fabrica) by smelting the iron ore and forming the nails by hand, producing a square tapered nail with a large head. The larger nails were used to hold the wooden stockade around the fort in place. They were also used to bind the timber roofing of the fort buildings.Such nails are easy to produce quicly and en masse.
This group of nails is from a Roman fort which was built in AD 83, near modern Inchtuthil, as the advance headquarters of the Roman general Gnaeus Julius Agricola (40 AD-93 AD), who played a significant role in the Roman conquest of Britain, holding around 5500 men. The garrison was withdrawn Between AD 87 and 90 and the Roman frontier was pulled back south. As the soldiers departed they left behind nothing that could be of any use to their enemies, and buried the building's hoard of Iron nails in a pit almost four metres in depth and covered it with two metres of soil. When the pit was uncovered in 1951 the cache of nails was discovered: 875,400 nails, in four sizes, weighing approximately seven tonnes.
For more information see M. McConchie, Five iron nails from the Roman hoard at Inchtuthil (Canberra, 2014).
Registration number
H726