Archaeologists Are Stumped After Finding a Peculiar Liquid Burial in an Ancient Roman Cemetery

Yahoo

27-01-2025

During a British highway project, a team of archaeologists uncovered a Roman-era central burial with 21 additional grave cuts.
The central grave includes a coffin carved from solid limestone and a gypsum-encased burial.
The process, most common in Roman Britain, created a hardened cast, but experts aren't sure the reasoning.
Travelers on the A47 highway in Britain have been zipping past a uniquely Roman-era burial practice for years without even knowing it. But during recent roadwork, a team of archaeologists from Headland Archaeology discovered not only a small cemetery near a section of a Roman-era road, but the uniquely peculiar burial practice of encasing the deceased in liquid gypsum.
Gypsum, a natural mineral made largely of calcium sulfate dihydrate, has a variety of uses dating back centuries, from lining walls to serve as a fire retardant for Mesopotamians to a plaster popular for use in the construction of pyramids by the ancient Egyptians. And, apparently, for the Romans covering their dead in the liquid form—which included mixing the gypsum in water.
Just why the Romans did this, though, remains a mystery. The experts that made the discovery found that the natural properties of gypsum hardened and formed a plaster-like casing, creating imprints of the body and sometimes preserving fabrics.
At the most recent find near Cambridgeshire, the site features additional 14 grave cuts centered around a central grave, plus an additional seven graves nearby. The central grave featured a single stone coffin carved from a solid block of limestone, and the burial inside was the gypsum-encased find.
Locating a gypsum burial outside of a city center isn't common. While Roman gypsum burials have been seen across Europe and North Africa, they are particularly common in Britain—and especially York—according to a previous statement from the University of York, which notes at least 45 burials of this type in York have been recorded since the late 19th century. But this find isn't in York—it's in a rural area, adding intrigue to a Roman-era burial sometime between 42 and 410 A.D.
While the gypsum didn't survive as one complete piece, the fragments still offered impressions of the burial shroud and even preserved a small piece of the fabric the individual was buried in. There were no grave goods found in the coffin, but the archaeologists did find a glass vessel and fragments of leather, pottery, and animal bone nearby. Headland Archaeology believed the glass vessel may have once held a 'toast or libation for the deceased' before it was placed in the grave.
'Despite the lack of grave goods, both the beautifully carved stone coffin and the gypsum burial are indicative of an individual of high status,' Headland wrote. 'The gypsum for the burial would have come at a high cost, and the stone coffin was not only beautifully carved, but also made from stone quarried around 50 kilometers [31 miles] away, adding the costs of transportation. These factors coupled with the central position of the burial within the cemetery points to an important person, perhaps the head of a prominent family.'
Other finds in the cemetery include large quantities of jewelry. One grave featured what experts believe was a woman roughly 16 to 20 years old buried with what could have been items meant for her dowry, including a pair of silver earrings, nine copper alloy bracelets, three copper alloy rings, and a silver band and oval plate likely part of a signet ring.
Another grave featured the remains of a child and had 10 copper alloy bracelets, four worked bone bracelets, a bone comb, and a pair of silver earrings like the earrings found in a different grave. Headland believes the similarity in jewelry could show a distinct style from the local craftspeople.
Also remarkable was the vast diversity of burial types at the cemetery, from the stone coffin with the gypsum to cist burials, cremation, decapitation burials, infant burial, and burials that likely happened in a wooden coffin thanks to the presence of iron nails.
'It is hoped that the post-excavation analysis will be able to untangle the questions surrounding the longevity of the cemetery and how it fits into the surrounding landscape,' Headland wrote, 'as well as shedding some light on the individual stories of those buried here.'
You Might Also Like
The Do's and Don'ts of Using Painter's Tape
The Best Portable BBQ Grills for Cooking Anywhere
Can a Smart Watch Prolong Your Life?