'Rare' Roman terracotta head found near Hadrian’s Wall, Northumberland

Believed to hold religious significance, the discovery of the head was made on last year, in a ditch dating back to the 3rd century AD, by volunteers at the Magna Roman Fort (Carvoran), Greenhead.

The Vindolanda Trust revealed the news on Wednesday (February 4).

Their spokesperson said that the find shed "new light" on religious practice and local craft on Rome’s northern frontier.

The discovery was made as part of a major five-year project at the Magna Roman Fort, partially funded by The National Lottery Heritage Fund.

The terracotta head was found during excavations of the fort’s northern defences by volunteers Rinske de Kok and Hilda Gribbin. Measuring 78 mm by 67 mm, the orange terracotta head depicts a female figure with a centrally parted, four-strand plaited hairstyle.

The piece is broken below the nose.

Experts at the trust say that it appears "crudely made", featuring "notably asymmetrical eyes".

The "rare" terracotta head was discovered in a ditch believed to date back to the 300 AD (Image: Vindolanda Trust)

Roman artefact specialist Lindsay Allason-Jones said: "It appears to me that this has been a practice piece by an inexpert hand… the eyes do not match at all, and the ears are very weird. That leads me to presume it was made on site, as no one would have bothered to transport this very far or paid good money for it!"

Lindsay noted that while terracotta face pots are common in Roman Britain, free-standing heads are rare, and recalled a second, more complete terracotta head found at the Magna site in the 19th century.

That earlier example, donated to the Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle upon Tyne in 1982 and now held in the Great North Museum: Hancock, preserves a fuller head and bust and shares striking similarities with the new find, including the distinctive hairstyle and facial features.

"There are clear similarities between the two heads from Magna; they are clearly meant to depict the same figure," said Rachel Frame, senior archaeologist at Magna.

The head, experts say, appears to be a poor imitation of a another figure discovered at Magna in the 19th century (Image: Vindolanda Trust)

"My current hypothesis is that the 2025 find is a locally made copy of the earlier example, which may itself have been imported. The woman depicted was clearly important to the people living at Magna."

Terracotta busts such as these are widely interpreted as "votive objects" used in religious contexts, say the trust. While common elsewhere in the Roman world, they are "unusual finds" in Britain.

In addition to its Roman biography, the earlier found head has a long post-Roman history. First published in 1889 in Archaeologia Aeliana, it was then in the possession of Mary Ann Henderson of Haltwhistle, the last member of the Carrick family to live at Carvoran farm.

Volunteers at Magna's drain excavation in 2025 (Image: Vindolanda Charitable Trust)

The trust added: "Mary likely found the object while living at Carvoran in the late 19th century and appears to have kept it after selling the farm in 1885. It may have remained in family hands for nearly a century before being donated to the Society of Antiquaries in 1982."

The identity of the woman remains unknown, though possibilities include an "imperial figure" or a "goddess". Researchers are now inviting further comparisons from across the Roman world.