29 April 2025 The Future is the Product of the Past

İnteresting Relief on the Roman Millstone

During the Cambridgeshire A14 road improvement work, workers found an interesting millstone. A large penis was engraved in the Roman-era millstone.

It is known that such reliefs were made for luck and abundance in the Roman period.

Archaeologists said the carving may have been intended to give protective properties to the millstone and to the flour it produced.

Steve Sherlock, Highways England’s Archaeology lead for the A14, said the phallus was seen as an “important image of strength and virility in the Roman world” and was believed to give good luck.

The new road opened in May last year, and there were many archaeological finds during the project including a woolly mammoth tusk. There were also woolly rhino skulls, an abandoned medieval village and the earliest evidence of beer brewing in Britain, dating back to as early as 400 BC.

Mr Sherlock said the millstone is important as it “adds to the evidence for such images from Roman Britain”.

“There were known associations between images of the phallus and milling, such as those found above the bakeries of Pompeii, one inscribed with Hic Habitat Felicitas – You Will Find Happiness Here,” he said.

“The phallus was seen as an important image of strength and virility in the Roman world, with it being common practice for legionaries to wear a phallus amulet, which would give them good luck before battle.”

Dr Ruth Shaffrey of Oxford Archaeology with the rare Roman millstone. (Highways England/ PA)
Dr Ruth Shaffrey of Oxford Archaeology with the rare Roman millstone. (Highways England/ PA)

Archaeologist MOLA Headland Infrastructure and its partner Oxford Archaeology examined the millstone.

They discovered two crosses inscribed on the circumference of the quern, a simple hand mill for grinding corn, typically consisting of two circular stones.

They also found the phallus carving on its upper face.

The millstone had been broken during its use and was then adapted, which preserved the carvings as it was then reversed to be used as a saddle quern, one of the bed stones used in the grinding process, hiding the genital carving.

More than 300 querns and millstones were recovered during archaeological work on the A14 project.

Decorated querns and millstones of any date are extremely rare, with only four such Roman millstones discovered from around a total of 20,000 nationwide.

While crosses on such stones are more prevalent, these tend to be found only at military sites.

Dr Ruth Shaffrey, from Oxford Archaeology, said: “As one of only four known examples of Romano-British millstones decorated this way, the A14 millstone is a highly significant find.

“It offers insights into the importance of the mill to the local community and to the protective properties bestowed upon the millstone and its produce (the flour) by the depiction of a phallus on its upper surface.”

Related Articles

Ancient Hebrew “Incantation Bowls” discovered in a home in Israel

8 March 2022

8 March 2022

The Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) said Monday that 1,500-year-old magical “incantation bowls” and other rare and ornate bone and ivory...

Archaeologists identify three new Roman camps in Arabia

27 April 2023

27 April 2023

Through remote sensing analysis, archaeologists have identified three new Roman fortified camps throughout northern Arabia. Their study, released today in...

Complex Of Early Neolithic Monuments Discovered In Herefordshire, England

22 July 2023

22 July 2023

Archaeologists discovered a remarkable complex of early Neolithic monuments while investigating the area around Dorstone Hill in Herefordshire, England. The...

1.5 Million-Year-Old Hand Axes and Seven Paleolithic Sites Discovered in Iraq’s Western Desert

30 January 2025

30 January 2025

Archaeologists from the Free University of Brussels (VUB) uncovered hand axes dating back 1.5 million years and discovered seven Paleolithic...

Whispers of Time: Exploring the Enigmatic Bronze Age Towers of Oman

24 February 2025

24 February 2025

The ancient Bronze Age towers scattered across Oman, dating back nearly 5,000 years, have long been a subject of curiosity...

An archaeological dig at Govan Old Churchyard revealed a remarkable new find: an early medieval ‘Govan Warrior’ stone

19 September 2023

19 September 2023

An archaeological excavation in the churchyard at Govan Old Parish Church in Glasgow, a port city on the River Clyde...

More than 100 bronze mirrors found at Sakurai Chausuyama burial mound in Japan

3 October 2023

3 October 2023

Archaeologists in Japan have unearthed more than 100 ancient bronze mirrors from the Sakurai Chausuyama burial mound in Sakurai, Nara...

46 Eagles in vivid color revealed on Ancient Egyptian temple ceiling

15 May 2022

15 May 2022

A joint German/Egyptian archaeological mission at the Temple of Esna on the west bank of the Nile, 35 miles south...

13th-Century skeletons Unearthed in Annaea Mound

8 May 2021

8 May 2021

At the historical Kadıkalesi archaeological site in Turkey’s western Aydin province’s Kuşadası district, a total of five skeletons thought to...

Archaeologists 3D map Red Lily Lagoon, the hidden Northern Territory landscape where first Australians lived more than 60,000 years ago

10 May 2023

10 May 2023

Archaeologists map Red Lily Lagoon, a hidden landscape in the Northern Territory where the first Australians lived more than 60,000...

3600-year-old lead weights were unearthed in the Kumluca Bronze Age Shipwreck, one of the oldest shipwrecks in the world

27 November 2022

27 November 2022

Underwater archaeological work continues in the Bronze Age shipwreck off Antalya Kumluca, one of the oldest shipwrecks in the world....

5000-year-old fingerprint found in Orkney pottery

23 April 2021

23 April 2021

Fingerprints were found on a pottery dating back 5,000 years in the Orkney archipelago, located in the northern region of...

Around 400-year-old Bronze idols found during house construction in India

25 April 2024

25 April 2024

Three bronze idols, estimated to be about 400 years old, were unearthed during excavation for a house construction project in...

25 Qing Dynasty tombs found in China’s Hunan

25 May 2022

25 May 2022

25 graves dating from the Qing Dynasty (A.D. 1644–1912) have been uncovered in the Houbeishan tomb complex in southern China,...

The First Dinosaurs Discovered in Japan From the Late Cretaceous Period

30 April 2021

30 April 2021

Yamatosaurus Izanagii, a new genus, and species of hadrosaur or duck-billed dinosaur have been discovered on one of Japan’s southern...