Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 7.djvu/273

Rh THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE. J 01 Sobam Fen, Cambridgesliire. The skeleton is supposed to be tbat of a female. It was accompanied by a large number of hazel-nuts, turned black by the peaty soil. This may be regarded as a fact of some interest, as seeming to point out that two modes of interment — by cremation and by burial — were practised at the same period. ^ntiquititi aulf SUHorftsi of ^rt (£)fi)iUtets. By the Dowager Duchess of Cleveland. — A curious ring of pure gold (weight, 182 grains. See woodcut). It was found with Roman remains at Pierse Bridge (AD TISAM), county of Durham, Avhere the vestiges of a rectangular encampment may be very distinctly traced, as shown in the plan given by Mr. Alaelauchlan in the previous volume of the Journal^ This work, on the northern bank of the river Tees, which separates Yorkshire from Durham, was evidently intended to protect the ford, by which the Roman road leading from Cataractonium there commu- nicated with the line progressing towards Scotland. The hoop, wrought by the hammer, is joined by welding the extremities together ; to this is attached an oval facet, the metal engraved in intaglio, the impress being two human heads respcctant, probably male and female, the prototype of the numerous " love seals" of a later period, of which so man}^ examples have been communicated to the Institute. The device on the ring in her Grace's possession is somewhat effaced, but evidently represented two persons gazing upon each other. This is not the first Roman example of the kind found in England. The device appears on a ring, apparently of that period, found on Stanmore Common, in 1781.5 On the medieval seals alluded to the heads are usually accompanied by the motto, " Love me, and I thee," to which also a counterpart is found amongst relics of a more remote age. Galeotti, in his curious illustrations of the " Gemmse Antiquse Litteratse," in the collection of Ficoroni, gives an intaglio engraved with the words, " AMO TE AMA ME.'"^ The discovery of this interesting ring having been brought under the notice of the Duke of Northumberland by Mr. Denham, of Pierse Bridge, through his Grace's kindness, permission was obtained for its exhibition to the Institute. His Grace sent, also, for exhibition a beautiful ring of pale-coloured gold (weight, 157 grains), set with a ruby-coloured gem, surrounded with filagree work, the hoop beaded with small circles, punched, as on work of the Saxon age. (See woodcut.) It was discovered, about 1812, by a boy who was ploughing near Watershaugh, a little above ^'arkworth Mills, Northumber- land, and found the ring fixed on the point of the ploughshare. It came into the possession of Miss Watson, of Warkworth, by whom it was pre- sented to the late Duke of Northumberland. — Another gold ring, set with a sapphire, found, in 1808, at Prudhoe Castle : weight, 64 grains. It is of a peculiar form, the beazil projecting with a peak of considerable height, surmounted by the setting. This type of ring may be seen in the Archaeologia, Vol. viii., pi. 30. Date, XlVth cent. ? In the collection of Mr. Fitch, at Norwich, there are two rings of this fashion ; one of them remarkable as being bijid, the prominent peaks set, one with a blue, the other with a red, •• Fraucisci Ficoronii Gemmae, &c. Roma, 1757, p. 2. VOL. VII. C C
 * Archaeol. Jourual, vol.vi., p. 217. * Camden's Britannia, edit, by Goiigh, vol. i., p. cx.-., pi. ii.