This clay tile was made and used in Roman Britain. It was found in Silchester, Hampshire, which was the site of an important town at that time.
Paws in the process
Look closely at the tile and you can see the impression of a dog’s paw in the clay.
The craftsman making the tile would have moulded the wet clay and left it to dry outside before firing it in a kiln. The dog presumably walked across the tile while the clay was still drying.
Author: Dan Robertson, Curator of Local History & Archaeology
Sadly, the picture didn’t come up, so I never got to see the paw print!
Hello Elizabeth,
I am aware that there are a few Chrome users who are unable to see the zoomable images on this website, and I’m looking at a fix for this.
In the meantime, you can view this tile here https://closelook.brightonmuseums.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/whole-tile.jpg. Otherwwise, Edge, Firefox and Safari all seem to work fine with.
Best,
Kevin