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'@@ -1,0 +1,1 @@ +Two monumental sculpted Roman heads dating back to the 2nd century were discovered yesterday near Hadrian's Wall by an American retired nurse who had joined an official excavation as a volunteer. <br><br>Ironically, one of the discoveries at the site in the northern cathedral city of Carlisle may represent Fortuna, the goddess of luck.<br><br>Frank Giecco, a leading expert on Roman Britain who is heading the excavation, told MailOnline that the sculptures are 'stunning'. <br><br>Finding them on day one of a five-week dig made them all the more sensational.<br><br>He said: 'It's made my year. The woman who found it is an American on her first day on an archaeological dig. You can be working for 30 years and never find anything.'<br><br>Carolyn Veit, a retired nurse from Indiana, has regularly visited friends in the area over the last 30 years, but this was her first experience of an archaeological dig. <br><br><br><br><br>Two monumental sculpted Roman heads dating back to the 2nd century were discovered yesterday near Hadrian's Wall by an American retired nurse who had joined an official excavation as a volunteer<br><br><br><br><br><br>Frank Giecco, a leading expert on Roman Britain who is heading the excavation, told MailOnline that the sculptures are 'stunning'. Finding them on day one of a five-week dig made them all the more sensational<br><br>She had joined a community dig linked to the official excavation, which is funded through Shared Prosperity Fund, part of the Government's levelling up agenda.<br><br>Speaking to MailOnline about her astonishment at making such an extraordinary discovery, she said: 'Some people were saying, "it's nothing, it's just a rock". <br><br>'But I was so curious and thought maybe it's not.' <br><br>Gradually, she could feel the outline of an eye, a nose and lips: 'You could see it was a face… We had a collective scream,' she added. <br><br>Of the first head, Mr Giecco said: 'I've never seen anything like it.' The second head has also just been lifted from the ground and is exciting the experts.<br><br>Their true significance will emerge with further study, but both heads are believed to be part of a vast sculpture that was probably once inside a Roman bathhouse.<br><br>The dig took place at the cricket club in Carlisle, just a short distance from the Wall.<br><br>The bathhouse was next to the most important Roman fort on Hadrian's Wall, the empire's northern frontier.<br><br>The fort held an elite [https://www.trainingzone.co.uk/search?search_api_views_fulltext=cavalry%20unit cavalry unit] and had links to the imperial court. Imperial-stamped tiles suggest the existence of an opulent bathhouse complex.<br><br>Earlier this year, the same archaeology team recovered semi-precious gemstones from the drain of that bathhouse, almost 2,000 years after their owners lost them. <br><br>The vegetable glue within their ring settings had probably been weakened in the hot and steamy baths.<br><br><br><br><br>The heads' true significance will emerge with further study, but both heads are believed to be part of a vast sculpture that was probably once inside a Roman bathhouse<br><br>Discussing the first of the newly-discovered heads, Mr Giecco pointed to a much smaller sculpture found at Bearsden on the Antonine Wall, which has a similar treatment of the hair and is thought to represent the goddess Fortuna.<br><br>Perhaps these were made in a northern school of sculpture, he suggested: 'It's made of sandstone. <br><br>'It's provincial… It wouldn't compare favourably to a nice marble statue you'd see in the Vatican or something. <br><br>'But, for Carlisle and on the Northern Frontier, it's remarkable. It's about 60cm high. So it's two times life-size.'<br><br>These were two heads had been abandoned on the Roman road. <br><br>The rest of their sculpted bodies may yet be found as the excavation continues, unless those sections were taken away and reused as building material long ago.<br><br>Mr Giecco said: 'The heads, being a funny shape, maybe weren't as useful to be incorporated into a building. So they just got left.'<br><br>He added: 'I'm stunned. Just finding two [sculpted heads] like that on the first day, who knows what else will turn up. It [raises] the status of this site.'<br><br><br><br><br>The rest of their sculpted bodies may yet be found as the excavation continues, unless those sections were taken away and reused as building material long ago<br><br>Professor Martin Henig, a leading expert on Roman art at the University of Oxford, told MailOnline: 'These are two of the most distinguished pieces of sculpture that have come from Northern Britain. They're really absolutely iconic.'<br><br>He suggested that they might have been part of a grandiose fountain within the baths or that they were used decoratively, perhaps on the roof. <br><br>Pointing to the heads' features, such as an open mouth and staring eyes, he said: 'If they have a purpose, they're very much to scare away the evil eye. After all, if you're in the baths, you're naked and vulnerable to evil forces.'<br><br>Cumberland Council is involved in managing the project.<br><br>If you have any concerns pertaining to where by and how to use lion4dbet ([https://lion4dbet.webflow.io/ read the full info here]), you can speak to us at the web site. '