Jug

Lead alloy jug, discovered by archaeologists during the excavation of a Roman well at Drapers' Gardens, City of London, in 2007. It has a simple rounded neck (no pouring spout) and bulbous body. There are turned concentric bands of grooved decoration around the external surface. The foot-ring is integral to the base. The handle is moulded as a strip with a lozenge and diagonal ridged pattern and applied to the side. Complete but squashed.
The jug was part of a hoard of 20 high-quality vessels and utensils deposited in a late Roman well. Evidence from coins found with the hoard suggested the vessels were placed there sometime between 375 CE and the early 400s. This was a time when Roman London was falling into decline and slowly being abandoned. The hoard is likely to have been the ritual deposition of a set of tableware, perhaps an offering to the gods to close the well and bring good luck to the people that owned the vessels before they left London to live elsewhere. The ceremony can be guessed at, due to the layers of objects in the well: first some coins were thrown in, then broken pieces of the well's bucket, then a woman deliberately broke her bracelet and dropped it in. On top of that were stacked the vessels, perhaps after a final feast in which they were used, and then part of a carcass of a young deer was added.