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Roman Altar goes on display at Manchester Museum
The Roman altar found during excavations by Pre-Construct Archaeology at Chester Road, Castlefield, Manchester, early last year has gone on permanent display in Manchester Museum. It can be found in the new Manchester Gallery.
Discovered on an archaeological excavation off Chester Road in the early part of 2008, this altar is remarkably well preserved and records only the second fully preserved Roman name from Manchester.
The inscription reads:
DEABUSMATRIBUS
HANANEFTIS
ET OLLOTOTIS
AELIUS
VICTOR
VSLLM
Which translates as: 'To the mother goddesses Hananeftae and to the mother goddesses Ollotatae, Aelius Victor gladly, willingly, and deservedly fulfilled his vow.’
Aelius Victor probably came from the lower Rhine area of north Germany, as the dedication is to native goddesses from that area which was also the homeland of the Cannanefates tribe. Victor almost certainly was an army officer, posted with his auxiliary unit to Manchester in the second half of the 2nd century AD. Was the altar dedicated as thanks for a safe passage to his new posting, or was it because he had a promotion?
The altar is made of millstone grit from the Pennine area. It is has a bowl on the top called a ‘focus’ where offerings of oil, wine or blood could be made to the goddesses. It would have stood within a shrine beside the road leading to the Roman settlement of Mamucium.
Manchester Histories Festival - March 2008
GMAU were pleased to take part in the Manchester History Festival where Norman Redhead answered questions on Roman Manchester, including the recently discovered altar from Chester Road.
Lesley Mitchell used the Greater Manchester Historic Environment Record, which contains data on the area’s known archaeology and historic built environment, to help people discover how old their house was, what was there before it was built and whether there was archaeology nearby.
Closure of UMAU
GMAU was sad to announce that their sister unit, the University of Manchester Archaeological Unit was closed down at the end of July 2009 due to financial reasons. The University committed to depositing UMAU’s paper and excavation archive with appropriate institutions and GMAU have offered to host the electronic archive. A reflection on UMAU’s achievements and contribution to Greater Manchester’s archaeology over the last 15 years will appear in due course.
Greater Manchester Archaeology Day
The inaugral Greater Manchester Archaeology Day was held on 19th February 2011 at the Friends' Meeting House, Manchester. Over 100 people attended and were treated to presentations from internationally renowned academics, professional archaeologists and, of equal importance, contributions from some of the local groups which comprise the Greater Manchester Archaeology Federation.
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