Students dress up with Roman treasures

Alex Kirton, a first-year archeology student at Durham University (UK), has discovered a 1,800-year-old stone head in an area near the town of Bishop Auckland, Durham county.

Alex Kirton

The "treasure" Alex found was a beautifully crafted sandstone head. Scientists believe it was made from the 2nd or 3rd century AD and is most likely a statue of a Roman god - symbol of war, worshiped by warriors.

Dr. David Petts and the stone head.(Photo: Durham University)

For his part, student Alex happily said: "Maybe I am still an archaeologist for the rest of my life but will never find something meaningful like this stone head. Really interesting when i was the one who discovered it '.

Immediately popping the second shovel, I saw myself touching something. I went to the ground and saw the back of a head. I was very impressed with the way of carving its hair. I told the teacher about my findings. We carefully separated the surrounding soil until the head appeared and lay there staring at us.

At that time Alex knew this was a rare discovery, but he was only really impressed when he saw the teacher's stunned expression.

The area found the stone head.

Dr. David Petts, an archeologist at Durham University, said: "The stone head gives us an insight into the lives and beliefs of the inhabitants of the Roman fortress. combining the classical and traditional Roman art of the land, it shows that the ancient inhabitants here turned classical Roman art into their own tradition. "

The place Alex found the stone head was the site of the excavation of the Roman fortress of Binchester (Romans called Vinovia, believed to have been built in the late 1st century AD).