Pewter plate, Appleford (Berkshire) Alison E. Cooley AEC/ASHL AN2009.1066.xml 157984 Oxford Ashmolean Museum AN2009.1066 AshLI 460

A large plain pewter dish, with a decorative central roundel on its upper surface.

Dimensions: Diam.: overall 0.52; diam. of footring: 0.25.

The name Pacata is incised in front of the longer text, which is in larger lettering, in a different hand. The letter As lack a cross-bar. The tail of the L extends beneath the next three letters. The final T emphatically marks the end of the text by its prominent size, its tail extending towards the centre of the plate. The name PACATA is written in the same style as on AN2009.1065.

 Appleford (Berkshire) 4th or 5th century AD Four large plates bearing inscriptions (also AN2009.1044, AN2009.1064, AN2009.1065) were discovered in a large collection of pewter tableware found by Amey Construction during gravel extraction at a pit near the village of Appleford in 1968 (Wilson 1969: p.231; Brown 1973: p.184; Poulton and Scott 1993: pp.121-22). The collection comprised twenty-four vessels, including fifteen plates of various sizes, eight small bowls, and a jug. They had been deposited as a set in two groups – plates and bowls separately – probably in a well-shaft (or perhaps even a ‘ritual shaft’), a context which would suit a ritual interpretation (see below, with Poulton and Scott 1993: p.122). Alongside them were found fragments of iron (from objects such as a cauldron-chain, steelyard, scythe blade, padlock, shovel-handle, frying-pan), stone, pottery, leather, and bone (Brown 1973: p.186, 193-201). The plates are currently on display in the Rome Gallery.
PACATA EMPITA PARTA SUNA LOVERNIANVS DONAVIT

‘Pacata’‘Lovernianus gave his purchases as a gift’.

EMITA appears in error for EMPTA, and SNA for SVA (Hassall in RIB)

This is one of four large pewter plates bearing graffiti scratched into the underside, found in a hoard of pewter-ware at Appleford. There have been two main suggestions as to why the pewter had been deposited in this way: either it had been hidden away in times of trouble and never reclaimed by its owners, or it had been deposited as a ritual offering, as suggested by the votive style of the inscription by Lovernianus (AN2009.1066). This second explanation would fit into the broader picture of the deposition of pewter in Roman Britain, which suggests that pewter was commonly deposited as ritual activity, in a development of Celtic religious practices, which are often associated with water, and that pewter may even have been manufactured precisely for such a use (Poulton and Scott 1993). Compare the pewter bowl from Bossens, AN1836 p.126.146 (no.191). These ritual associations would suggest that the names should not necessarily be seen as ownership marks but rather perhaps as the names of individuals making the votive dedications (Poulton and Scott 1993: p.128). The names are otherwise unattested, but one (Lovernianus) is certainly Celtic in character, related to the word louerno -, 'fox' (Celtic Personal Names of Roman Britain). The names may represent the owners of the plates, but the use of the nominative case in the examples of Narina, Somia, and Pacata, suggest instead a dedicatory function.

Wright (1969) p.239, no.23d, with Plates XVI and XVII; Brown (1973) p.193 no.24, with Plate XIII A + drawing Fig. 9; RIB II.2.2417.27 (1991); Vickers (1992) pp.21-22 + p.20 fig. 19 for overall photo of the hoard; Lee (2009) p.240, with p.101 fig. 42.

Russell P. Mullen A. Celtic Personal Names of Roman Britain http://www.asnc.cam.ac.uk/personalnames/ Brown D 1973 A Roman pewter hoard from Appleford, Berks Oxoniensia 38 184-206 Lee R The Production, Use and Disposal of Romano-British Pewter Tableware Oxford BAR British Series 478 Poulton R. Scott E. 1993 The hoarding, deposition and use of pewter in Roman Britain Theoretical Roman archaeology: First Conference Proceedings Scott E. Aldershot Avebury 115-132 Vickers M. 1992 The Ancient Romans Oxford Ashmolean Museum Wilson D.R. 1969 Roman Britain in 1968. I. Sites Explored JRS 198-234 Wright R.P. 1969 Roman Britain in 1968. II. Inscriptions JRS 59 235-246