Roman nail

A Roman nail from the cache buried at Inchtuthil, Perthshire. One of some ten tonnes of iron nails, cartwheel rims and similar supplies buried by the Romans when the fort was abandoned.

Museum reference:
CUKDM-1984-22-3
Made by:
Imperial Roman Army
Place Made:
Perthshire
Associated with:
XX Legion Imperial Roman Army · Agricola, Julius, General · Inchtuthil Fort, Perthshire · 88 AD or before. This was the the 20th Legion's base fort on the northern frontier of the Roman Empire 83-87AD c. When the legion was pulled out to help quell an uprising on the Danube they were unable to take with them their stock of iron nails. This nail along with 875,000 others were buried in a 12ft deep pit in the corner of a store covered with 6ft of clean earth. The building was then demolished on top of this. The reason for this was that at this period iron was valued more than silver or gold by the indiginous inhabitants of the area. Inchtuthil Fort situated near Dunkeld was excavated between 1952 and 1965 and the nails were discovered in 1961. They were widely distributed to museums in Britain and elsewhere.
Dimensions:
height: 102mm
width: 18mm
depth: 16mm
Materials:
iron

User contributions

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By Darryl on July 13, 2022

Hello I think I found one of these nails the other night while metal detecting for my first time in North Ayrshire, Scotland. I have pictures and videos if someone can take a look? Thanks Darryl HI DARRYL, MANY THANKS FOR GETTING IN TOUCH. WE WOULD BE HAPPY TO TAKE A LOOK, JUST DROP US A LINE AT MUSEUMCOLLECTIONS@NORTHLAN.GOV.UK ALTERNATIVELY, YOU COULD TAKE THE NAIL TO ONE OF NORTH AYRSHIRE COUNCIL'S MUSEUMS OR CONTACT THE TREASURE TROVE UNIT WHICH IS BASED AT NATIONAL MUSEUMS SCOTLAND: PLEASE SEE THEIR INFORMATION FOR FINDERS http://treasuretrovescotland.co.uk/information/information-for-finders/

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