The Western Cemetery of Roman Cirencester: Excavations at the former Bridges Garage, Tetbury Road, Cirencester, 2011-2015 - Couverture rigide

Holbrook, Neil; Wright, Jamie; McSloy, E.R.; Geber, Jonny

Couverture rigide

ISBN 10 : 0993454534 ISBN 13 : 9780993454530

Editeur : Cotswold Archaeological Trust Ltd, 2017

Synopsis

Excavations in 2011 to 2015 within the Western Cemetery of Roman Cirencester resulted in the discovery of 118 inhumation and 8 cremation burials, the largest investigation of a Roman cemetery in Cirencester since the Bath Gate excavations of the 1970s. A greater quantity of grave goods was recovered from this cemetery compared to the Bath Gate cemetery, testifying to the higher status of those buried here.

Nine burials survived within a postulated walled cemetery. The pottery from the fills of these graves had a clear emphasis on amphorae, flagons and tazze, indicative of funerary ceremonies involving the consumption of wine, or the pouring of it as libations, and the burning of substances. Just outside the walled cemetery, the burial of a 2 to 3-year-old child contained a magnificent enamelled bronze figurine of a cockerel, dateable to the 2nd century AD. Such figurines are rare finds, with only four or five similar examples known from Britain.

Burial activity continued into the 4th century AD. One unusual later grave had a reused sculpted and inscribed tombstone placed face down immediately over the coffin of an adult male. Only 15 inscribed tombstones have been previously recorded from Cirencester so this is a noteworthy discovery, made all the more important by its archaeological context. The tombstone is dedicated to a 27-year-old woman named Bodicacia and has a fine sculpted pediment containing a representation of the god Oceanus. Significantly the god’s face and claws were deliberately mutilated prior to its placement within the grave, which could be a very rare example of Christian iconoclasm from Roman Britain.

A propos du livre

À propos de l'auteur

Neil Holbrook is Chief Executive of Cotswold Archaeology, and earlier in his career he worked for the Exeter Museums Archaeological Field Unit between 1986 and 1989. He was co-director of the Roman Rural Settlement Project with Michael Fulford and joint series editor of the three monographs in the New Visions of the Countryside of Roman Britain series (2016-18).

Détails de l'édition

• Éditeur: Cotswold Archaeological Trust Ltd
• Date d'édition: 2017
• Langue: anglais
• ISBN 10: 0993454534
• ISBN 13: 9780993454530
• Reliure: Relié
• Nombre de pages: 170
• Coordonnées du fabricant: non disponible
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