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THIS OBJECT IS PART OF THE PROJECT 'A HISTORY OF CORNWALL IN 100 OBJECTS'.

ROYAL CORNWALL MUSEUM. The cremation burial of an elderly woman from Tregony was excavated by the Historic Environment Service of Cornwall Council in 2005 at Penlee House Nursing Home. The burial comprises two reused Romano-British vessels: firstly a cooking pot of Roman 'Black Burnished' style and decoration manufactured from local stream or estuarine rather than the more commonly used clays from the Lizard. The other item is a well-used jug of gabbroic clay from the Lizard Peninsula.

In the last five years the number of known Roman forts has gone up from one to three and this has provided new information about Roman Cornwall. It is now thought that the Romans had a greater direct involvement in tin mining and mineral extraction. They were well aware of this mineral extraction as Classical authors described 4th century BC tin being obtained from an island called Ictis which many consider to be modern St. Michael's Mount.

Photo: 2005.18.1-2 (pots) Copyright Historic Environment Service, Cornwall Council