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Museums in London
The British Museum contains some of the most spectacular treasures from Roman Britain, many of which were featured in the programme 'Coming of Age'. These spectacular hordes were stashed away in the dying days of Roman occupation, the owners presumably planning to return later to retrieve them. The remarkable late-fourth-century Thetford hoard was discovered in 1979, and contains some splendid gold jewellery (some of it unfinished), a set of thirty three silver spoons and a jewellery box made from shale. Perhaps the most breathtaking display is of the Mildenhall treasure, with its stunning silver-ware, including a silver dish two feet in diameter.
In the gallery you will also see the Classicianus tombstone (referred to in the programme 'Fact and Fable') and a selection of wooden writing tablets from Vindolanda Fort, near Hadrian's Wall. These were miraculously preserved in the water-logged soil, and are featured in the third programme about Hadrian's Wall.
There are many other displays, including jewellery, military artefacts and coins.
The Roman galleries here provide an excellent introduction to Roman London. There are a number of models and reconstructions of the Roman city and of domestic interiors, many of which featured in the programme 'Coming of Age'. You can also see skulls thought to have been of victims of the Boudiccan massacre, and examples of the burnt remains found across London, conclusive proof of an enormous conflagration in around the year AD 60. The emphasis here is on placing the finds in context, so you get a very good idea of what life must have been like in the Roman City.
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