RARE ANCIENT ROMAN LANTERN FOUND IN FIELD IN ENGLAND September 02, 2010
CAPTON: Roman Bronze-age lantern similar to the one found by Danny Mills. CLICK TO ENLARGE
(U.K.) -- Some days it pays to own a metal detector. Danny Mills, 21, was out using his detector not long ago and made an amazing find in a field near Sudbury in Suffolk.
He discovered what is thought to be the only intact Roman lantern made out of bronze ever discovered in Britain. Dating back to somewhere between 43 AD and 300 AD, it is described as a rare example of Roman craftsmanship.
Back in the 2nd century when Great Britain was part of the Roman Empire the area was dotted with plush Roman villas and country estates.
The bronze –age lantern is much like a modern hurricane lamp and the naked flame – protected in a modern day lamp by a clear glass cylinder - would have been protected by a thin sheet of horn which had been scraped and shaped until it was thin enough to see-through.
