The face of one of the first Romans in Britain, Longinus the cavalryman, has been restored after the missing fragments of the first-century tombstone were located more than 70 years after the main part was found near Colchester, in Essex, south-east England.
The tombstone, showing a soldier on horseback terrorising an Iron Age Briton, is of outstanding interest to archaeologists. It is not only the oldest Roman gravestone in Britain, but the stone came from Lincolnshire, probably by sea, proving that a sophisticated administration was in place within a few years of the invasion.
It is a mute witness to the violence of the Boudiccan revolt, when followers of the rebel queen swept down from East Anglia in AD 61, torching Roman settlements at Colchester, Verulamiam and London. Archaeologists believe the tall stone, along with that of a man Longinus must have known, Facilis the centurion, was smashed by Boudicca's forces as a symbol of the hated Romans.
Longinus died in AD 49, so soon after the invasion in 43 that Mr Philip Wise, curator of archaeology at Colchester Castle Museum, believes he must have come to Britain with Claudius's invasion force.
In 1928 garages were built on the site of a Roman cemetery. As the stone was being broken up, a splendidly carved Roman letter was spotted. The site's significance was quickly realised.
In 1996 the museum was able to look for more when the site was cleared again for housing. Many more pieces, including the face, were found. The only thing missing is Longinus himself.