The Great North Museum/Hancock

The Great North Museum is much, much more than just another regional, university museum. Its archaeological collections have been built up by several centuries of collecting, much but not all of which was undertaken by the Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle Upon Tyne which celebrated its two hundredth anniversary in 2013.

This history explains why the Great North Museum is often referred to as the ‘Gateway Museum’ for Hadrian’s Wall. It holds, on display and in its extensive research collections, archaeological material from every major site on Hadrian’s Wall. To give an example of the extent of these collections, the Great North Museum holds more Romano-British inscriptions than any other museum (the British Museum included). It is a superb teaching and research resource.

It holds the prime position in the Museum in the central hall near the entrance. On the other hand the display is tired and needs a makeover.

Here is a list of all stone artefacts

Here some examples:

This deity is called Antenociticus. This head-, a leg and a couple of other bits from this god- were found at a small temple at Benwell on the Vallum. His name, Antenociticus, is Celtic but its meaning is unknown.

This god is only found on Hadrian’s Wall which suggests that he is very localised to Hadrian’s Wall. The god looks like a Roman statue in the sense that he’s carved out of stone and he has human-looking features. But some aspects of him are more Celtic than Roman. He has these horns on the top of his head and has these almond-shaped eyes. Around his neck there’s a necklace, which is very much associated with Celtic religion. So Antenociticus is a Romano-Celtic god in the Roman period and it is not known whether he existed before the Roman period.