Emily Chan
As he was walking his dog with his mom, a 12-year-old boy in the United Kingdom came across something extraordinary—a first-century gold bracelet from Roman Britain. The cuff bracelet was rare for Roman Britain, especially because it was made from gold.
In 2022, the boy and his mom, Rowan and Amanda Brannan, were walking the family dog near a field in Pagham, a coastal village in West Sussex, England, when Rowan noticed the bracelet. They showed it to a local officer with the Portable Antiquities Scheme, a project that catalogs archaeological finds discovered by the public in the U.K.
Pagham is located near the ancient Roman-British city of Noviomagus Reginorum. It was the capital of the Civitas Reginorum and is now known as modern-day Chichester.
Noviomagus Reginorum was originally a winter fort for the Second Augustan Legion, shortly after Roman emperor Claudius’s invasion of Britain in A.D. 43. The fort was garrisoned for only a few years. Then, it was developed into a Roman-British settlement.
A new analysis revealed that the piece of jewelry was crafted from sheet gold with five raised moldings in rib and rope styles. It dates back to the first century A.D.
After years of neglect, the cuff has been compressed into a folded position. It measures almost three inches in length, though it would be longer if it were unfolded.
The jewelry was not worn by a woman. It is known as an armilla-type bracelet, which was given as a military award for feats of bravery and strength during the Roman conquest of Britain, according to the Portable Antiquities Scheme. Later on, the feats were rewarded with money rather than jewelry.
Roman legionnaires and non-commissioned officers who were below the rank of centurion qualified for an armilla. The bracelets were worn at military parades or during a Roman Triumph to celebrate victories and the successes of a military commander.
The Portable Antiquities Scheme declared the bracelet is an artifact made of gold or silver that is at least 300 years old. The discovery of the bracelet confirms the existence of Roman soldiers in the region, either active or retired, at the time.
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