Archaeologists discovered the remnants of an unusual grave while exploring archeology at the site of a construction project in England.
Archaeologists have discovered a Roman cemetery with an unusual grave at the center of it. In this grave, there is a stone coffin within which the deceased is buried in liquid plaster.
Livesins wrote:
This method has been known since ancient Roman times; But archaeologists are still ambiguous about its details. The liquid used in this grave is made of cement or plaster and then poured on the deceased to create a hard mold. This process sometimes retained organic remains such as clothing or shrouds. The plaster obtained from the recently discovered grave is a fragment; But it retains a small piece of the deceased’s fabric.
This type of burial was mainly common in ancient Roman urban centers, such as York in the UK, with 4 graves being discovered with plaster; But finding such a grave in rural areas, like the recent case, is rare.
Archaeologist Jessica Luther said about the new discovery:
We believe this was a costly action; Therefore, it shows that the deceased had a high social status.
The plaster used in the recently discovered grave was elegant and extracted from a mine of about 2 kilometers away from the discovered site. Buying and carrying it has cost a lot. Considering these cases, as well as the grave in the center of the cemetery, it can be concluded that the buried person was prominent or belonging to a prominent family.
While no object was found inside the coffin, archaeologists found a glass container near it, which may have once contained a drink for the deceased.
Archaeologists discovered the cemetery before the launch of a highway construction project in the Cambridge area. This cemetery dates back to the Roman period in the UK (1 to 2 AD).
The cemetery was along an ancient Roman road. During the excavation, archaeologists discovered four tombs around the central grave site and seven other graves outside of a border. The interesting thing is that this cemetery has used different types of funerals that are unusual for such a small area. These included funeral covered with long stones, burning with corpses, funeral with head cuts, funeral with wooden coffins and even an empty grave.
In the graves of inside and outside the border moat, many valuable objects were discovered, including jewelry. In one of the graves, there was a large set of valuable objects next to the buried person. Bone analysis showed that this person was between 2 and 5 years old and was a woman.
Another grave was discovered with funeral objects that belonged to a child. In the tomb of this baby, four copper alloy bracelets, four bone bracelets, one bone shoulder, as well as a pair of silver earrings were discovered surprisingly similar to the buried earrings with the young woman. However, Jessica Luther believes that the similarity of these earrings does not mean the family relationship between the two, and that similarity could represent the style of a famous craftsman in the area.
RCO NEWS