 Indirect evidence for the antiquity of the name 'Thames' is provided by a Roman potsherd found at Oxford, bearing the inscription "Tamesubugus fecit" (Tamesubugus made [this]).It is believed that Tamesubugus' name was derived from that of the river.Tamese was referred to as a place, not a river in the Ravenna Cosmography (c. AD 700).