Wheel, rota cambiginata

Object/Artifact

Trimontium Museum

Edited from an original positive on film ©National Museums Scotland. Digitised and edited by The Trimontium Trust

Name/Title

Wheel, rota cambiginata

Entry/Object ID

X.FRA 478

Description

Rota cambiginata, wheel of oak from the Roman site at Newstead (Trimontium), used between 140 and 180 AD. The hub was carved from a single piece of oak. The rim (or felloe) of the wheel is made up from six joined sections. Twelve spokes -nearly square - (five of which are modern reconstructions) join it to the central piece which has a hole for the axle.

Use

Wheels are used to help move and transport the cart/object it is attached to.

Context

Found in Pit LXX. A heavier wheel than the wheels from Pit XXIII. A rare survival of a wooden wheel. It has been restored from fragments found at the bottom of pit LXX on the site of the Roman fort of Trimontium. "The Romans hauled materials over short and long distances in wagons and carts to order to set up and provision their network of forts. Often all that is left of the vehicles are metal fittings, bindings and occasionally the tyres." - NMS Scran

Collection

National Museums Scotland

Acquisition

Accession

X.FRA 478

Source (if not Accessioned)

National Museums Scotland

Made/Created

Date made

140 - 180

Time Period

2nd century

Ethnography

Cultural Region

Continent

Europe

Culture/Tribe

Romano British, Roman

Lexicon

Nomenclature 4.0

Nomenclature Primary Object Term

Wheel

Nomenclature Sub-Class

Mechanical Devices

Nomenclature Class

Mechanical T&E

Nomenclature Category

Category 05: Tools & Equipment for Science & Technology

Getty AAT

Concept

wheels (components)

Other Names and Numbers

Other Numbers

Number Type

Previous Accession Number

Other Number

I.15.367

Material

Oak

Color

Brown

Relationships

Related Person or Organization

Person or Organization

James Curle

Notes

Excavator

Related Publications

Publication

Clarke, D.V., Breeze, D.J., and Mackay, G. The Romans in Scotland. An introduction to the collections of the National Museums of Antiquities of Scotland. Edinburgh: National Museum of Antiquities of Scotland, 1980, p. 43.

Publication

Notes on some undescribed objects from the roman fort at Newstead, Melrose", Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, 47 (1912-13), pp 384-405.

Web Links and URLs

Curle, James. Notes on some undescribed objects from the roman fort at Newstead, Melrose. Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, 47 (1912-13), pp 384-405. , National Museums Scotland web link to artefact, Canmore web link to Newstead (Trimontium)

Research Notes

Research Type

Reference

Notes

"A Roman Frontier Post and Its People", J Curle, p. 293 "At the bottom of Pit LXX, which, from its pottery, had evidently belonged to the later period, lay the remains of a large wheel. It had been, on the whole, coarser and heavier than the wheels found in Pit XXIII, and it was also less well preserved. The hub was broken in two and most of the spokes had been displaced. Enough remained, however, to indicate clearly that it had resembled the wheel found in the outer ditch at Bar Hill. When complete it must have had a diameter of about 3 feet 5 inches. No iron mountings were found with it. The nave measured 16 inches in length, and had a diameter of 9 inches in the centre. The spokes, which must have been twelve in number, were nearly square. At the point of junction with the hub they measured 2½ by 2¼ inches, tapering slightly towards the felloe. They were 12 inches long, and were fixed into the hub with a square tenon, while the outer ends passed right through the felloe. Whether they had originally projected a little beyond the felloe was difficult to say, but the extremities were worn as though they had not been covered by any protecting rim. Unlike the felloes of the wheels from Pit XXIII, the felloe of this ruder wheel was made in six sections, on treads attached to one another by wooden dowels. The length of each tread was 1 foot 10 inches and the thickness 3¼ inches, tapering to 1½ inches where it touched the ground. The projecting dowel measured 1¼ by 7⁄8 inches."