Terracotta head found at Magna Roman Fort

A rare terracotta head of a female figure that looks like a rough-hewn version of one discovered 40 years ago has been discovered at Magna Roman Fort on Hadrian’s Wall in Northumberland, northern England. The terracotta head was discovered last June by volunteers Rinske de Kok and Hilda Gribbin while excavating a ditch fill from the 3rd century.

The head depicts a female figure with a striking four-strand plaited hairstyle on both sides of a center part. It is broken below the nose, a remnant 3 inches high by 2.6 inches wide.

Roman artefact specialist Lindsay Allason-Jones commented:

“It appears to me that this has been a practice piece by an inexpert hand… the eyes do not match at all, and the ears are very weird. That leads me to presume it was made on site as no-one would have bothered to transport this very far or paid good money for it!”

A more sophisticated and complete terracotta figure with the same hairstyle was discovered at a farm at Carvoran (the modern town where the Magna site is located) in the 19th century. Now held in the stores of the Great North Museum: Hancock, the head is intact with a bust that shows the draping of a garment and a pattern of dots around the neck that implies a beaded necklace. The hairstyle, large ovoid eyes, straight, slim nose and placement of the ears are very similar on both figures.

Rachel Frame, Senior Archaeologist at Magna, said:

“There are clear similarities between the two heads from Magna, they are clearly meant to depict the same figure.” She added, “My current hypothesis is that the 2025 find is a locally made copy of the earlier example, which may itself have been imported. The woman depicted was clearly important to the people living at Magna.”

The terracotta head fragment is now on display at the Roman Army Museum along with other discoveries from the last dig season at Magna Roman Fort.

* This article was originally published here