ON THE FORT BOVISAND ANCHOR STOCK CORE

Abstract

An alleged ancient lead anchor stock core of Mediterranean design, which had spent many years under the stairs in the lobby leading to the bar at Fort Bovisand, was transferred to Plymouth City Museum in May 2010. Due to the possible overlap of British and Mediterranean lead isotope ratios, it was decided to refrain from sample extraction and provenance analysis. With reference to typological and historical data, particularly comparable artefact discoveries from in and outside of the Mediterranean as well as the absence of evidence for significant lead exploitation before the Roman Conquest, this article will argue that the object is probably not British.

Keywords

• anchor stock core
• fort bovisand
• plymouth
• lead mining
• non-invasive provenancing