South Shields, cameo

HER Number:
16747

District:
Newcastle

Site Name:
South Shields, cameo

Place:
South Shields

Map Sheet:
NZ36NE

Class:
Dress and Personal Accessories

Site Type: Broad:
Jewellery Fitting

Site Type: Specific:
Cameo

General Period:
Roman

Specific Period:
C2-C3

Form of Evidence:
Find

Description:
Length 4.7 cm. Of Indian sardonyx, in which an opaque white stratum has been carved to depict a bear, with the head of a ?goat between its forepaws, against a mottled translucent stratum of a greenish brown colour. There is no precise record of the findspot or of the circumstances of the discovery. This is the finest known cameo from Roman Britain. Its nature and condition suggest that it came from a burial. Great North Museum: Hancock 1923.52

Easting:
36

Northing:
67

Grid Reference:
NZ3667

Lats/Lons:

Sources:
DJ Smith, 1974, Museum of Antiquities, Newcastle upon Tyne - An Illustrated Introduction, 41; The Archaeological Journal XXV (1868), pp 103-7; Archaeologia Aeliana, Series Four, Vol XXXIX (1961), pp 19-20, 34, plate viii; J.M.C. Toynbee, 1963, Art in Roman Britain (second edition) no. 139, pl 158; ABUR 372