51�Թ�

High quality tableware called Samian pottery and spoons, pins and brooches were also unearthed.

It's been described as a limestone fragment of Myron Samian Athena and coming from an "Old German collection, bought before 1980."

The statue, identified by the government as “Fragment of Myron’s Samian Athena, Limestone, Roman, 1st – 2nd century A.D.,” was not available for comment.

In addition to the fort, which was built in the cathedral city in 55 A.D., coins and pottery made for the military and "fine red Samian tableware imported from France" were discovered.

As we stood on the slimy waterstairs – a favoured spot for a quiet drink, evidenced by the litter of bottles and cans – Sumnall produced from her bag a Roman dress pin, and the base of an expensive imported Samian ware jar, which she picked up on the shore a few days earlier.