Roman Strigilis, more personal is impossible...

[Westfront]

I had the chance to detect a construction site cut in half by a roman road. There is a small village known which is heavily detected for the last 25 years and next to nothing left behind. Now outside the village the backhoe helped to get the coil closer to the deep stuff.

Green rim in the lump...

Next one was better

Drawer pull acorn

Next signal was deep and strong. I had a feeling to be careful and i was right.
Green patina in the hole. But what is it

I got it out unbroken

I had to think a bit till the penny dropped. This is most likely one of the most personal items you can get from a Roman man.
This thing is a Strigilis, a grooming utensil. Used for scraping oil/sweat and body hair off the skin after bathing or workout. Cru will help out to explain properly how the romans used it. Quite nasty...
Here is a pic from a set in the museum.

Wikipedia
And how it was used...

Wikipedia

 

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[toasted]

��Thanks for the history lesson

 

[jewelerguy]

cool and interesting

 

[Digger RJ]

Very Nice!!! Congrats!!!

 

[CRUSADER]

Excellent, an exciting site to do, even if for the Archies.
Yes, not had one of those before, if you were a gladiator that tool would draw off all the sweat/oil into small bottles that were sold to the crowds/fans, like the women who used it as an aphrodisiac.

 

[mindcrime1988]

Neat finds and what an opportunity to detect the area.

 

[Wildcat1750]

What an awesome find! I learned about those...

 

[pepperj]

That a really cool find, congrats.

 

[E-Trac-Ohio]

Fantastic finds - congrats !

 

[PetesPockets55]

Very interesting and congratulations. I don't imagine those turn up very often.

Guess they had groupie "cougars" back then as well! Rowwwwrrr.

 

[CRUSADER]

Very interesting and congratulations. I don't imagine those turn up very often.

Guess they had groupie "cougars" back then as well! Rowwwwrrr.

I've never had 1 & do lots of Roman Sites but you would need a site that had a warm room/bath house. Although this was a tool used like the ear picks/nail cleaner/tweezers that we see more often, I'm guessing that to be used as a cleaning tool in a bath house you would need to be a soldier or a wealthy owner of a Villa. (other than the gladiator use)

 

[Plumbata]

Awesome rare find, haven't managed to add one to the collection yet. Some were stamped with a maker's mark (like pateras) and are irresistibly interesting. What's the bronze, a Faustina? Thanks for sharing!

 

[Bigdaddybflo]

Bad ass !! Those are some awesome finds

 

[Westfront]

I've never had 1 & do lots of Roman Sites but you would need a site that had a warm room/bath house. Although this was a tool used like the ear picks/nail cleaner/tweezers that we see more often, I'm guessing that to be used as a cleaning tool in a bath house you would need to be a soldier or a wealthy owner of a Villa. (other than the gladiator use)

It's possible to have a station close as the vicus has a strategically good location in the roman road network. A bath house is a must then. Otherwise you can imagine that a wealthy owner of a villa was present there.

 

[Westfront]

Awesome rare find, haven't managed to add one to the collection yet. Some were stamped with a maker's mark (like pateras) and are irresistibly interesting. What's the bronze, a Faustina? Thanks for sharing!

Rare, yes. They were talking find of the month immediately as i showed it the the archies....
I didn't had a chance to clean the coin in the field but she looked like Faustina the older. Hopefully i'll get pics after cleaning/restoration as all went to the state museum.