Life and Death in a Roman City : Excavation of a Roman cemetery with a mass grave at 120-122 London Road, Gloucester

by Simmonds, Andrew; Masrquez-Grant, Nicholas; Loe, Louise

• ISBN13: 9780904220490
• ISBN10: 0904220494
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2008-10-30
• Publisher: David Brown Book Co

Summary

The cemeteries around Roman Gloucester remain as windows through which the past populations of the town and preceding fortresses may be studied. Excavations by Oxford Archaeology in London Road between 2004 and 2006 revealed substantial parts of one of these cemeteries, at Wotton, lying by one of the main Roman roads east of the town. In addition to the nine cremation and 64 inhumation burials, a rare mass grave was found of at least 91 individuals, possibly victims of the Antonine Plague which swept the Roman Empire during the later 2nd century AD. This report analyses the burials for what they can tell us of the origins, health, status and funerary practices of the people living in Gloucester from the 1st to 4th century AD. The development of the Wotton cemetery itself is also studied, using evidence from excavations undertaken from the 19th century onwards.The current investigations also unearthed vertebrate deposits in the gravel cap dating to the Pleistocene, including hippopotamus and possibly bison and elephant. The significance of this assemblage in terms of the local geology is discussed.

Table of Contents

List of Figures
List of Plates
List of Tables
Introduction	p. 1
Archaeological Description	p. 9
The Human Remains	p. 29
The Grave Catalogue	p. 81
The Finds and Environmental Evidence	p. 99
Discussion of the Roman Cemetery	p. 123
Appendices	p. 147
Dental Health Status Methodology	p. 147
Summary of Disarticulated Human Bone	p. 148
Oxygen and Strontium Analysis of Tooth Enamel	p. 150
Detailed Records of Cremations	p. 154
Photomicrographs of the Tombstones	p. 159
The Pleistocene Vertebrate Remains	p. 160
Bibliography	p. 165
Index	p. 175
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