File:Roman state fragment (FindID 408333).jpg

English: Cast copper-alloy fragments from a Roman life-sized statue of a horse. The fragments were discovered in plough soil within an area measuring approximately 2m square. (UPDATE: An additional fragment was found in 2013, recorded on the PAS database as LIN-666619).

There are eight fragments in total, three of which join together to form a larger fragment. This find is discussed in Worrell and Pearce 2011: 410-411, and more comprehensively by Dr Kosmas Dafas, who refined the identification of these Roman statue fragments as coming from a horse (K. Dafas: forthcoming). The descriptions that follow are a brief excerpt from Dafas's report, and have been kindly provided by him:

Identification & Short Description: Three joining fragments from the neck, cheeks and mandible of a horse (pl.1). Fragment 1a (pls.1-8) comprises part of the head and neck, including areas from the front of the upper part of the neck, the lower cheeks and the proximal area of the lower jaw.

Identification & Short Description: The fragment comes from the muzzle of a horse, probably close to the mouth area: it could originate from the sides of the mouth or the front of the mandible. On the intact edge of the fragment are five narrow and relatively deep grooves that render the folds of the wrinkled skin. The round and smooth ending of this edge could be part of the opened mouth or , less probably, of the nostril. A wider and shallower furrow can be seen next to the folds, while the rest of the bronze surface is slightly curved and bears no decoration.

Identification & Short Description: Three joining fragments from a horse's mane. The hair is organised in twelve thin short undulating strands, separated by shallow and narrow grooves. On the lower part of one fragment these grooves are faint and less symmetrical. Presumably this is from one side of a mane, there being a corresponding and now lost piece from the other side.

Identification & Short Description: Fragment from the reins of a horse, possibly from the bridle. Its shape is rectangular and slightly curved.

Identification & Short Description: Two irregularly-shaped, non-joining lead fragments that possibly originate from the soldering material used for the attachment of the statue to its base. Both fragments are slightly curved.

Discussion

Following the discovery, the FLO was able to secure funds to pay for a geophysical survey of the site. This revealed a series of pits in the area of the find spot, with a ditch running to the east that may enclosure or bound the pits. This ditch runs into the field immediately to the south. This field contains an Anglo-Saxon cemetery, and was partially excavated by Time Team in 2004 (Wessex Archaeology 2004, 'South Cliff Farm, South Carlton, Lincolnshire: An Archaeological Evaluation and an Assessment of the Results', Grey Literature Report). Geophysics were undertaken by Time Team and this shows the continuation of this ditch southwards. Part of this ditch was excavated and dated to the Roman period. The relationship between the pits and the ditch remains uncertain without further excavation.

The period in which the statue was dismantled and carried offsite, probably for remelting, is unclear. The ditch might suggest a Roman date, however it equally could have occurred at a later date, perhaps during the early Anglo-Saxon period.

It was speculated during 'Britain's Secret Treasures' that this horse may have been for a bronze statue of the Emperor Domitian (Emperor AD 81-96). Lincoln was founded as a colonia under Domitian, and given the tendency for monumental bronze sculptures to be located in the major Roman centres across the Empire, it is likely that this statue once stood in Lincoln. Indeed, the presence of a Roman equestrian statue here is indicated by the discovery in the 19th century of a near-life-sized bronze foreleg of a horse in the area of the colonia (Ant. J., XXIV, 1994, pp. 5 et seq., Pl. III; Whitwell, J.B. Roman Lincolnshire (Lincoln: History of Lincolnshire Committee, 1992) p. 122; Jones, M.J. 2002, Roman Lincoln (Stroud: Tempus, 2002) p. 64, fig. 34).

This fragment is now in the collections of the Society of Antiquaries, London. The stance of the foreleg has been compared with the equestrian Capitoline statue of Marcus Aurelius and is thought to be part of a life-sized statue of one of the emperors on horsback. It is possible, though difficult to prove, that these pieces belong to the same equestrian statue, possibly originally located in the forum at Lincoln near the temple of the imperial cult (cf. Lewis, M.J.T. 1996, Temples in Roman Britain, p. 63.).

Domitian was one of the few emperors subjected to Damnatio Memoriae (damnation of the memory), under which all statues, inscriptions etc relating to the emperor were ordered to be destroyed. In reality, this order by the senate appears to have variable executed across the empire. That this event might explain the destruction of the Lincoln horse is speculative, but it is interesting to note that Dr Dafas's analysis of the fragments suggests that the statue suffered severe damage at some point in the past. Dr Dafas suggests that the breaks are consistent with the statue having fallen accidentally or having been toppled intentionally, the result of a natural disaster or a deliberate political-military action.