A slave-chain from Llyn Cerrig Bach

The Greek geographer, Strabo, mentions the export of slaves, hunting dogs and corn from Late Iron Age Britain.This iron slave-chain was once thrown into a lake called Llyn Cerrig Bach, on Anglesey. Slavery and a trade in people was commonplace in the ancient world, an essential source of controlled labour. Strabo, a Greek geographer, tells of the export of slaves from Late Iron Age Britain to the expanding territories of the Roman Empire. It is one of many prized items found together in a waterlogged peat layer, including chariot parts, weapons, cauldrons, decorated metalwork and tools. A wooden platform probably once led out to a small island sitting in the lake. This natural, isolated place was a religious place of great significance. Here, gifts were periodically offered into the lake to the residing Gods. Perhaps itself a captured item, the removal of this slave-chain from Roman manipulation could be viewed as a powerful and symbolic act of resistence. The Druids, an influential British priestly class, may have been involved.

The Greek geographer, Strabo, mentions the export of slaves, hunting dogs and corn from Late Iron Age Britain.