It was a moment that left even the most seasoned archaeologist speechless. On June 16, Dr Andrew Birley was excavating beneath the floor of a fourth-century infantry barrack at Vindolanda Fort, near Hexham, Northumberland, when he turned over a stone and came face to face with a figure he could not immediately identify. “I was completely unprepared for what I found on the other side of this stone. My first thought was simply, ‘Who on earth am I looking at?’” he said.
The answer came within hours, thanks to a community of scholars Dr Birley described as “generous and knowledgeable”. The 1.5ft-high sandstone carving was a Genius – a protective spirit believed to attract security and prosperity. Deliberately buried some 1,600 years ago, the statue had been concealed beneath the barracks floor, which itself sat atop an earlier military structure.
“Rare 1.5ft sandstone statue of a Roman guardian spirit unearthed at Vindolanda Fort near Hadrian's Wall.”
In its hands the figure clutches a cornucopia, symbolising abundance and prosperity, and a patera, a shallow dish used in ritual offerings. While inscriptions dedicated to a Genius are common across Roman Britain, intact carved stone reliefs survive only rarely. “As archaeologists, moments like these are incredibly rare, and we feel privileged to have uncovered and preserved such an important part of the site’s story,” Dr Birley said.
The sculpture is now being restored and will eventually go on display at the on-site museum. For now, it stands as a remarkable link to the beliefs of Roman soldiers stationed at the edge of an empire – a guardian spirit that, after 16 centuries in the dark, has finally been brought back into the light.