THE Guardian reports on a rare discovery by archaeologists in Gloucestershire: They have found a small shard of patterned green glass, part of an 1,800-year-old fish bottle, at Chedworth Roman Villa.
It is believed it would have been made in an area around the Black Sea in what is now Ukraine and maybe used to hold exotic perfume.
Chedworth, a National Trust property, is regarded as one of the grandest Roman villas in Britain.
Archaeologist Nancy Grace commented about the find.:“People have been enchanted by it, but it has also been a long and difficult journey. To have found that it is the only one of its type so far discovered in Roman Britain adds to our knowledge of the importance of Chedworth Roman Villa.”
The shard was found in 2017 but it has taken until now to identify the type of bottle it came from because of its rarity.
The UK government has pledged to end smoking in England by 2030.
The BBC reports that it is part of a range of measures to tackle the causes of preventable ill health.
Promoting physical activity, developing guidelines on sleep and targeting those at risk of diabetes are also set out as priorities .
Currently men and women spend over a fifth of their lives in ill health – 19 years for women and 16 for men and those in deprived areas experience the longest periods of poor health.
Measure suggested include ensuring any smoker admitted to hospital automatically gets offered help to quit .
The Romans’ love affair with food and drink is explored in an exhibition at the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford.
An article in The Guardian says that the dormouse, fattened up with acorns and chestnuts and then stuffed, baked and perhaps seasoned with honey and poppy seeds, was one of ancient Rome’s most popular delicacies.
They also adored dishes such as rabbit stuffed with figs, cockerel in pomegranate sauce, and terrines and mousses moulded into the shape of chickens.
Titled Last Supper in Pompeii, the exhibition includes about 300 objects loaned by Naples and Pompeii, many of which have never left Italy before.
In the Independent a less than surprising story tells us that according to a new report by media regular Ofcom says nearly half of British adults get their news from social media, and social media platforms tend to be rated least favourably than any other news source for quality, accuracy, trustworthiness and impartiality.
The report adds that television remains the most popular way for people to access news and is used by 75 per cent of adults, but usage has decreased from 79 per cent last year.
An article in the Daily Mirror spotlights analysis of Food Standard Agency records which reveal that it looks like Bradford in Yorkshire has the most ice cream vans!
The records list inspection data for every mobile food caterer in the UK and searched for businesses with ice-cream related names with Bradford coming out on top with 41, equal to one van for every 13,102 people that live there.
But if population is taken into account, Bolton’s 40 vans mean there is one van for every 7,134 residents!
The paper says that figures were collected using a key-word search – meaning that it is not a comprehensive record of ice cream vans, but should instead be viewed as an indication of where they are most common.
Reference list
- The Guardian
- The Daily Mirror
- The Independent
- The BBC