SMALLHYTHE, ENGLAND—According to a BBC News report, the two-inch head of a figurine of the Roman god Mercury was uncovered at the site of a previously unrecorded Roman settlement at the site of a medieval shipyard in southeastern England. The settlement, situated by the River Rother, has been dated to between the first and third centuries A.D. Made of pipeclay, such figurines are thought to have been used in private religious practice and placed in children’s graves. No body has been recovered for this figurine, which may have been broken intentionally during a ritual. “The head is clearly visible as Mercury, with his winged headdress,” said Nathalie Cohen of the National Trust. To read about excavations of a Roman sanctuary in the Netherlands with altars dedicated to Mercury and other gods, go to “Romans Go Dutch.”
