Pottery shard gives evidence of Christians in 4th century Roman London

A piece of pottery provides fresh evidence of the presence of early Christians in fourth century London.

Found during an excavation at Brentford High Street in the '70s, the pottery shard was among hundreds kept at the Museum of London. About 40 years later, while sorting through the pieces, a volunteer noticed that it is etched with a symbol commonly used by early Christians.

"Although we can't say from one object that Roman London and its hinterland were practising Christianity, it does suggest that Christians were at least present at some point in 4th-century Roman Brentford," archaeology collections manager Adam Corsini said, as quoted by The Guardian.

The symbol that the volunteer noticed on the fragment was the chi rho, a superimposed combination of the Greek letters chi (Χ) and rho (Ρ), which signifies the first two letters of Kristos or Christ.

Corsini said, "Christian symbols from the Roman period are rare, especially from sites within Londinium's surrounding hinterland, and there are only a few examples in our collections relating to London."

Although such finds are rare, the proximity of west London to the River Thames had provided a wealth of other artifacts, including ones placed in the museum's Prehistoric Collection. There are some 900 pieces of metalwork dated to the Bronze and Iron ages, but two significant items from Brentford are a bronze chariot horn cap and a "wooden stave-built tankard sheathed in bronze."

This is another recent discovery that provides insight into the Christians living in old England. Just recently, notes of the Reformation were discovered in the pages of the country's oldest printed Bible. These annotations, found in the copy kept at the Lambeth Library in London, were hidden for 500 years by thick paper.

"This Bible is a unique witness to a time when the conservative Latin and the reformist English were used together, showing that the Reformation was a slow, complex, and gradual process," historian Dr. Eyal Poleg of the Queen Mary University of London said in a press release.