Exceptionally rare Roman statue unearthed in City of London building site
An “exceptional” Roman sculpture thought to have adorned the tomb of a wealthy man in the 1st or 2nd century AD has been found in the City of London, as archaeologists proclaim it the finest of its kind in the world.
The statue, which shows an eagle clasping a serpent in its beak, was found on the building site of a boutique hotel near Aldgate tube station, and will now go on display in the Museum of London.
Experts have hailed it as being among the finest Roman pieces ever discovered in Britain, and the best-preserved example of the eagle and snake motif in the world.
This statue, made from limestone from the Cotswolds, is believed to symbolise the struggle between good and evil, and triumph over death.
It is thought to have been commissioned for a “wealthy person of influence” in Roman London, and placed in an alcove at the mausoleum.
It was found as archaeologists explored a site at Minories, near to the Tower of London, ahead of a new 16-storey boutique hotel being built.
The area is known to have been a burial ground just outside the city walls, with a Roman road running nearby it.
The two-foot-tall sculpture was found in a ditch overlayed with pottery, around ten foot deep. Experts reported it came out of the ground "covered in soil and unrecognisable" in September, in the last few hours of an excavation that had lasted several months.
A spokeswoman for the Museum of London Archaeology, which worked on the dig, disclosed academics "were at first hesitant" to announce the find, with its "unbelievable condition" leading them to doubt its Roman origins.
Only one other example of a statue showing the design of the eagle and snake has ever been unearthed in Britain, and that is missing its head and feet. The motif also matches a design seen on a ring in the Cheapside Hoard.
Reverend Professor Martin Henig, a leading expert in the field, said that the object was "the finest sculpture by a Romano-British artist ever found in London and amongst the very best statues surviving from Roman Britain.
"Its condition is extraordinary; the carving is as crisp as on the day it was carved. All it has lost is the surface paint, probably washed away when it was deposited in a ditch."
Michael Marshall, finds specialist at Museum of London Archaeology (MOLA), added: "The eagle is a classically Roman symbol and this new find provides a fascinating new insight into the inhabitants of Roman London and demonstrates their familiarity with the iconography of the wider classical world.
"Funerary sculpture from the city is very rare and this example, perhaps from inside a mausoleum, is a particularly fine example which will help us to understand how the cemeteries and tombs that lined the roads out of the city were furnished and the beliefs of those buried there."
MOLA project manager Louise Davies said it was an archaeologist's "dream to find such a beautiful sculpture", adding: "The fact that we found it on the last day of the dig was a real bonus."
The object will go on display for six months at the Museum of London from Wednesday October 30.
Exceptionally rare Roman statue unearthed in City of London building site - Telegraph