1,800-Year-Old Penis Carving Found Near Hadrian’s Wall In England
Newcastle UniversityThe phallus was a symbol of good luck to Ancient Romans.
Nearly 2,000 years ago, the Romans built a barrier structure made out of sandstone, now known as Hadrian’s Wall, to protect them from enemies.
Incredibly, the wall still stands today, along with the carvings etched into it by the soldiers who were tasked with its construction and repair.
Some of the wall’s earliest carvings date as far back as 207 A.D. Earlier this year, a team of historians and archaeologists discovered one peculiar inscription in a nearby quarry called the Written Rock of Gelt: a penis-shaped carving and the caricature of what many archaeologists believe is one of the site’s commanding officers.
It’s a rare insight into the psyche of the Roman soldiers who built the formidable structure.
“These inscriptions at Gelt Forest are probably the most important on the Hadrian’s Wall frontier,” said Mike Collins, inspector of ancient monuments for Hadrian’s Wall at the government agency Historic England.
“They provide insight into the organization of the vast construction project that Hadrian’s Wall was, as well as some very human and personal touches, such as the caricatures of their commanding officer inscribed by one group of soldiers.”
But as the Rock of Gelt has become increasingly eroded by water from the nearby Gelt River, researchers from Newcastle University and Historic England have teamed up to record its newly discovered inscriptions before they are erased by the elements.
To do this, researchers have to descend 30 feet into the quarry. Laser scans record the sandstone inscriptions in 3D.
Public viewing of the fascinating structure was closed in the 1980s after a path leading to them collapsed, but once the recording of its inscriptions is completed the public will be able to discover these historical carvings up close in their digital format for the first time.
