Element record MCC2961 - Roman cremation burial

Summary

One of seven Roman burials that were recorded to the east of the track or droveway during the 2007 excavation on Abbey Field car park.

Location

Grid reference TL 99323 24294 (point)
Map sheet TL92SE
County ESSEX
Non Parish Area COLCHESTER, COLCHESTER, ESSEX

Map

Type and Period (1)

Full Description

One of seven Roman burials that were recorded to the east of the track or droveway during the 2007 excavation. Five of these (ELM1415, ELM1418-1421) contained Roman cremation urns, complete but fragmentary, and often with damaged tops. The other two (ELM1416-1417) were deposits of broken potsherds with small finds, bone and various metal objects. Human bone was extracted from only five of the burials, i.e. ELM1415-6 and ELM1419-21.

This burial consisted of an inverted cremation urn, with fragments from a wooden box used to contain clothes or jewellery underneath it. The recovery of only one ring, no hinges and no hasp for the box shows that it had been deliberately broken and only some elements were deposited in the burial. The cremated bone was found primarily beneath the remains of the box. The box is probably late 1st or early 2nd century, the cremation itself can be defined by the date of residual pottery sherds to early to mid 2nd century; this means that the wooden box might have been already old when deposited. <1>

Sources/Archives (1)

  • <1> EXCAV REPORT: Brooks, H., Holloway, B. (CAT) and Masefield, R. (RPS Group). 2007. An archaeological excavation on the Abbey Field car-park, Circular Road North, Colchester, Essex January-February 2007. CAT Report 424, pg 4-5.

Finds (0)

Protected Status/Designation

  • None recorded

Related Monuments/Buildings (0)

Related Events/Activities (1)

Record last edited

Sep 15 2008 2:16PM

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