Burial Practices in Roman Britain: A survey of grave treatment and furnishing A.D. 43-410

Philpott, Robert A.

doi:10.30861/9780860547259

Cited by 72 publications

(57 citation statements)

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“…The meaning behind these two seemingly contemporaneous burial types is still a matter of debate. The formal alignment of the Group 1 graves has been suggested to be the result of ''managed'' Christian cemeteries, where the mode of burial and east-west alignment was dictated by the ''Romanized'' elite (Philpott, 1991;Sparey-Green, 2004).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Life and death in a civitas capital: Metabolic disease and trauma in the children from late Roman Dorchester, Dorset

Lewis

2009

American J Phys Anthropol

108

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The impact that "Romanization" and the development of urban centers had on the health of the Romano-British population is little understood. A re-examination of the skeletal remains of 364 nonadults from the civitas capital at Roman Dorchester (Durnovaria) in Dorset was carried out to measure the health of the children living in this small urban area. The cemetery population was divided into two groups; the first buried their dead organized within an east-west alignment with possible Christian-style graves, and the second with more varied "pagan" graves, aligned north-south. A higher prevalence of malnutrition and trauma was evident in the children from Dorchester than in any other published Romano-British group, with levels similar to those seen in postmedieval industrial communities. Cribra orbitalia was present in 38.5% of the children, with rickets and/or scurvy at 11.2%. Twelve children displayed fractures of the ribs, with 50% of cases associated with rickets and/or scurvy, suggesting that rib fractures should be considered during the diagnosis of these conditions. The high prevalence of anemia, rickets, and scurvy in the Poundbury children, and especially the infants, indicates that this community may have adopted child-rearing practices that involved fasting the newborn, a poor quality weaning diet, and swaddling, leading to general malnutrition and inadequate exposure to sunlight. The Pagan group showed no evidence of scurvy or rib fractures, indicating difference in religious and child-rearing practices but that both burial groups were equally susceptible to rickets and anemia suggests a shared poor standard of living in this urban environment.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Life and death in a civitas capital: Metabolic disease and trauma in the children from late Roman Dorchester, Dorset

Lewis

2009

American J Phys Anthropol

108

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“…The Romano-British cemetery at Trentholme Drive (inhumations: late 2nd to 4th century AD) has sometimes been interpreted as a burial ground for the poor (Wenham, 1968). More likely, however, it was the ordinary people of Roman York, which were interred here (Philpott, 1991). Sampling permission was obtained for 42 out of c. 350 individuals.…”

Section: Sample Populationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Stable isotope evidence for 1500 years of human diet at the city of York, UK

Müldner

Richards

2007

American J Phys Anthropol

198

187

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We present here the results of a large-scale diachronic palaeodietary (carbon and nitrogen isotopic measurements of bone collagen) study of humans and animals from a single site, the city of York (U.K.), dating from the Roman period to the early 19th century. The human sample comprises 313 burials from the cemeteries of Trentholme Drive and Blossom Street (Roman), Belle Vue House (Anglo-Saxon), Fishergate (High and Later Medieval), and All Saints, Pavement (Later and Post-Medieval). In addition, 145 samples of mammal, fish and bird bone from the sites of Tanner Row and Fishergate were analyzed. The isotope data suggest dietary variation between all archaeological periods, although the most significant change was the introduction of significant quantities of marine foods in the Medieval periods. These are first evident in the diet of a small group of individuals from the High Medieval cemetery at Fishergate, although they were consumed almost universally in the following periods. The human isotope values are also remarkable due to unusually elevated delta(15)N ratios that are not sufficiently explained by the comparably small enrichment in (13)C that accompanies them. We discuss the possible reasons behind this and the archaeological significance of the data set.

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“…Lime has been evidenced in Roman and early Christian burials, [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12] mediaeval burials, [13][14][15][16] post-mediaeval burials [17][18][19][20][21][22][23] and during modern times in mass graves associated with conflict, including the First and Second World War, the Spanish Civil War, Rwanda and former Yugoslavia [24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32] or mass burials with victims of natural disasters (tsunamis, earthquakes). [33] There are specific traditions of incorporating materials in archaeological burials such as lime, chalk, gypsum or a generic class, commonly referred to as plaster burials.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Raman spectroscopy as a non‐destructive screening technique for studying white substances from archaeological and forensic burial contexts

Schotsmans

Wilson

Brettell

et al. 2014

J Raman Spectroscopy

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Raman spectroscopy was evaluated as a non-destructive analytical tool for the characterisation of white substances in burials. In addition, Fourier transform Raman spectroscopy was used to assess the conversion of hydrated lime into calcium carbonate. Fourteen samples of white substances from archaeological and forensic sites were analysed and characterised. The results show that not all white residues in burials are lime. Lime can easily be mistaken for other building materials (gypsum), for minerals (brushite) or degraded metal (cerussite). This study highlights the need for chemical analysis of white residues when encountered in burials. Analytical information derived from Raman spectra of white substances can further assist in the interpretation of the taphonomic processes of burials and their funerary context. Copyright Â© 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd

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Burial Practices in Roman Britain: A survey of grave treatment and furnishing A.D. 43-410

Cited by 72 publications

References 0 publications

Life and death in a civitas capital: Metabolic disease and trauma in the children from late Roman Dorchester, Dorset

Life and death in a civitas capital: Metabolic disease and trauma in the children from late Roman Dorchester, Dorset

Stable isotope evidence for 1500 years of human diet at the city of York, UK

Raman spectroscopy as a non‐destructive screening technique for studying white substances from archaeological and forensic burial contexts

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