The baths were rebuilt in the fourth century and were still in use in the fifth some parts were subsequently rebuilt in timber and may still have been standing in the 12th century, when the site was quarried for building materials. The main building of the bathhouse, constructed around 210 A.D., had sandstone walls three-and-a-half feet thick. After six years of archaeological detective work that has provided a tantalizing glimpse of Roman Britain, Frank Giecco, the technical director of the Carlisle project, believes that he and his team have solved the mystery. How and why these stones were lost is a subject of some debate among classicists. A reddish-brown jasper features a satyr seated on rocks beside a pillar. One amethyst depicts Venus holding either a flower or a mirror. Others showcase Ceres, the god of fertility, Sol (the sun) and Mercury (commerce). Some bear images of Apollo, Mars, Bonus Eventus and other Roman deities symbolizing war or good fortune. The delicate intaglios, fashioned from amethyst, jasper and carnelian, range in diameter from 5 millimeters to 16 millimeters - bigger than a pencil eraser, smaller than a dime. The colorful intaglios - gems with incised carvings - likely fell out of signet rings worn by wealthy third-century bathers, and ended up trapped in the stone drains. Down the drain is where British archaeologists recently discovered 36 artfully engraved semiprecious stones, in an ancient bathhouse at the site of a Roman fort near Hadrian’s Wall in Carlisle, England.
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