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Contextualising Romano-British Lead Tanks: A Study in Design, Destruction and Deposition

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 July 2012

Belinda Crerar
Belinda Crerar*
Affiliation:
University of Cambridgebjc45@cam.ac.uk
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Abstract

Despite being an intriguing, if obscure, series of artefacts there has been a hesitancy in academic discussion to address fully the myriad of questions raised by the design and archaeological find-spots of lead tanks from Roman Britain. This, and an uncritical acceptance that they were used by early Christians as baptismal fonts, has led to a lack of appreciation of their contribution to our knowledge of late Romano-British religion. This paper seeks to redress this via two channels. The first is a detailed and contextualised examination of the design, iconography and manufacture of these tanks. The second is an investigation into how the manner of their deposition can inform their function. It is concluded that the evidence used to associate the tanks with baptism is flawed and greater attention must be given to other facets of their design in order to gain an appreciation of their proper place in the culture and religion of Roman Britain.

Keywords

Roman Britainlead tanksiconographyChristianitychi-rho baptismfontsAquileia reliefWalesby frieze
Type
Articles
Information
Britannia , Volume 43 , November 2012 , pp. 135 - 166
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s) 2012. Published by The Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies

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References

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