We have a huge variety of objects in our collection and I am constantly reminded of this as they come through for cleaning, photographing and packing.
This large Amphora, c 100BC and the earliest known found in Britain, was cleaned by brushing and vacuuming and then gently scrubbing with plain water and a toothbrush.
The outside of the pot is smooth but the inside has lovely rings on it, which made me wonder whether it may have been made as a coil pot. On the outside there are some green patches where it would have been in contact with copper.
As I cleaned the Amphora I was struck by the smell of dust and soil – it was an old and earthy smell!
At the same time, in the gallery, we had this beautifully shaped 4th-1st century BC miniature flagon which was cleaned in the same way as for the Amphora and it struck me what a variety we have in the collection – this time in scale!
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