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Gathering the Jewels features over 30,000 images of objects, books, letters, aerial photographs and other items from museums, archives and libraries throughout Wales.
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Lead pig or ingot and stamped copper cake or ingot, from Carmel, Flintshire (Roman)
Lead pig or ingot cast in a trough-shaped mould. Stamped on its top G(ai) Nipi . Ascani, '(Product) of Gaius Nipius Ascanius, the name of a private business man, who may have been working the Flintshire lead field as early as AD 60. Later, at the time of the Roman conquest of Wales, the Flintshire lead field was worked for the government. The army needed quantities of lead at this time for construction work at the new legionary fortress at Chester where water pipes are found bearing the name of Agricola, the Governor of Britain from AD 78-84.
Copper cake or ingot stamped twice with two names: Iul(ius) 'Julius' and ES(. . .), probably the names of the mine lessees or bailifs. Copper mining is attested on Anglesey and the Gwynedd seaboard during the Roman period. The copper ore was roasted and smelted at about 1100 degrees Celcius. The molten metal was run off into a hollow outside the furnace, which formed the distinctive bun-shaped ingot. The distribution of ingots on Anglesey suggests that some of the copper was exported to the continent from Aberffraw.
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