London - Dating from the late fourth century 19 gold coloured copper-alloy cooking and tableware implements are almost perfectly preserved because of the 1,700 years they spent under water, protected from the ravages of oxidisation.
They could have been thrown down the well to preserve them from looters as the Roman occupants retreated from London which was under attack from the tribes. Or they could have been ceremonial offerings to the water gods.
The 19 vessels include a bucket, dishes, cooking pots, plates and bowls that may have been used for serving wine or for personal ablutions.
They were deposited in the well after 375 AD because of coins found directly under them. The well is believed to have been closed up around 380 AD when much of Londinium was abandoned.
They were all together in the silted-up well near Moorgate in central London, which in the late fourth century would have been inside the northern end of the Roman defensive wall enclosing the city.
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