Sometimes when you're laying out the contents of a magazine, it appears you have an extra page. The usual quick 'n dirty solution is to insert one of your own or a charity ad. Or perhaps there is a good photo that can be enlarged to fill a page. The latter especially is not a bad solution, but I´m thinking of something new.

I am thinking of starting a new series of short - 1 page - articles as 'filler' material, a sort of short versions of 'the Find'. My idea would be to present interesting or important archaeological finds that have important implications for what our knowledge of events, structures, people, etc.

A possible candidate could be the very well know 'Altar of Ahenobarbus'. It's safe to say that there is no other sculpture with such an enormous influence on our image of the Late Republican soldier. By the way, the most important reason for its influence is the extreme rarity of representational evidence for Roman soldiers of that period...

But one could think of other finds as well that have a particular, but lesser known importance. For instance, pots, kettles and other containers are certainly not as rare, but the Nijmegen museum has a bronze kettle with an ownership designation punched into it. That particular feature is not rare either, but what is special is that this designation indicates that the kettle was owned by the "Contubernium of Cusonis". 'Internet knowledge' commonly has it that the tent-group

was led by a Decanus, thanks to the 4th century treatise by Vegetius, who's in this case often, and correctly, distrusted. The evidence for an early imperial contubernium leader is very rare. A quick search on the Epigraphical Database of Manfred Clauss shows there are half a dozen inscriptions (including the one mentioned above) referring to a contubernium of someone. None of those mention a rank for this function, which is not unusual in itself. But the fact that this otherwise very plain kettle provides us with this evidence, makes it very interesting indeed!

Suggestions for items in this 'filler' series are very welcome, as always.

PS: Podcast No.3 is up!