Roman Pots Found: Was This An Anti-Washing Up Scam?


Archaeologists in London have found a hoard of perfectly preserved Roman pots at the bottom of an ancient well. We're suspicious. Did Romans hate washing up? Why else chuck lots of pots down a well? Let's see what the experts think...

Shows photo of several metal dishes, slightly battered and worn-looking.

Here are just some of the 19 pots discovered lying in a heap at the bottom of a wood-lined well in central London.

Can you see how well preserved they are? Hard to believe they've been lying there for almost 1700 years.

Here they are lying at the bottom of the well. They were found in a part of London called the Upper Walbrook Valley.

There have been digs going on in the area for 30 years but experts say this is the most important find yet.

Shows photo of the view down a well. Several dishes and a bucket can be seen lying in muddy water at the bottom.

Photo of a woman in a white lab coat holding a large metal dish with a decorated rim.

The ground there is very wet, which is good news for ancient artefacts.

Water stops the air getting in and rotting them when the ground is waterlogged. Oxygen helps bacteria to munch through materials like wood and leather otherwise.

There were 19 different pots found in all - a cauldron, several different sorts of dishes, large wine buckets, shallow bowls with handles, part of a hanging bowl, a flagon, a trivet and a ladle.

That's a lot of washing up.

All of the dishes are made of either copper or lead alloys - types of metal.

Some of them are decorated beautifully. Can you see the patterns around the edge of the one above? Others have moving handles that still work all these years later.

Jenny Hall, a curator from the Museum of London is very happy about the discovery...

'These finds are amazing, I just couldn't stop grinning when I first saw them....Nothing like this has ever been found from London before, or anywhere else in Britain.'

Photo of a woman in a white lab coat and white gloves holding a large metal bucket with a handle.

Photo of a woman in a white lab coat sitting at a table studying one of several metal dishes laid out on the table.

So, the all-important question.

Did the pots end up down the well because a lazy Roman was trying to get out of washing them up? Well, probably not.

Nobody knows for certain but experts believe they may have been placed there when the well was closed. Other Roman wells have been found in London with figurines, flagons, animal skulls and even human skulls at the bottom.

Another theory is that Romans leaving London around AD380 may have put the pots there, perhaps hoping to retrieve them one day.

However they got there, the pots lay down that well for almost 1700 years. No doubt they have lots of stories to tell... archaeologists and curators will be studying them for a long time to come.

You can go and see the pots at the Museum of London until January 27 2008.

If you're interested in Roman London take a look at the museum's Digging Up The Romans website - we love it. For more Roman games and Make and Do ideas check out the Show Me Romans page.