Roman fingerprints seen for the first time in St Albans

Out of the darkness of a room where only a laser shines, 2000-year-old Roman fingerprints appear on a vase for the first time. The Roman town of Verulamium (~AD50 - 450; southeast England) has been studied by UCL researchers for almost 100 years. Research by a UCL-led collaborative team, using a high-tech laser imaging technique, has made new discoveries from its well-studied artefacts.

Laser-Stimulated Fluorescence (LSF) is a non-destructive imaging technique in which high-power lasers cause artefacts to fluoresce, which reveals unseen and often unknown information. The LSF technique has previously been successful in revealing hidden soft tissues preserved in dinosaur fossils, been combined with drone-technology to find fossils in the field and has also been used to study cave formations.

For the first time, a team led by UCL Institute of Archaeology PhD student Michael Pittman (also Research Associate UCL Earth Sciences and Assistant Professor, The Chinese University of Hong Kong), supervised by Elizabeth Graham (Professor of Mesoamerican Archaeology) and Mark Altaweel (Reader in Near East Archaeology), applied this LSF imaging in the field of archaeology. The international team used LSF to study excavations, wall paintings, floor mosaics, church ceilings, pottery and glassware. Their findings have now been published in The Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports.

LSF imaging of a bowl recovered from the Triangular temple of southeast Verulamium in the 1930s by Mortimer Wheeler’s expeditions (specimen 1981.2481; top left), newly revealed a painted symbol closely resembling the Greek letter gamma (Γ; top right).

According to Michael Pittman:

This suggests the bowl was labelled by a Greek-speaker (a Greek or someone that knew the language) or may have been an import from the Greek-speaking world, inferences only possible with LSF.”

LSF imaging of a vase from Verulamium (specimen 1982.842; bottom left) revealed a number of human fingerprints on its surface (bottom right; inset shows a close up of a fingerprint).

Thomas G Kaye, co-corresponding author of the study from the Foundation for Scientific Advancement, commented:

The fingerprints appear to have been produced by a Roman worker handling the vase, while its surface was still wet.”

David Thorold, Curator of Collections (Prehistoric to Medieval), Verulamium Museum said:

We are thrilled that the team has pioneered the use of this new imaging technology in archaeology at the Verulamium Museum. The team’s exciting results demonstrates clear potential for continuing discoveries in the field of archaeology.”

The full research paper is available online here: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352409X22001389

Any queries may be directed to Michael Pittman, PhD Student, UCL Institute of Archaeology (email: michael.pittman.20@ucl.ac.uk)

Images

First: Second-century Roman bowl from Verulamium (top left) reveals a painted symbol closely resembling the Greek letter gamma under laser fluorescence imaging (Γ; top right). This suggests the bowl was labelled by a Greek (or someone that knew the language) or may even have been an import from the Greek-speaking world. These inferences would not be possible without LSF. A Roman vase from Verulamium (bottom left) imaged under laser fluorescence reveals a number of human fingerprints on its surface (bottom right). Inset shows a close up of a fingerprint. The fingerprints appear to have been produced by a worker handling the vase while its was still wet. Image credit: Michael Pittman & Thomas G. Kaye.

Second: Michael Pittman, PhD student at the UCL Institute of Archaeology, with his co-author Thomas G Kaye of the Foundation for Scientific Advancement, holding a map of Roman Verulamium. Image Credit: Michael Pittman & Thomas G. Kaye.