Posted on 07/27/2011 2:40:40 AM PDT by SunkenCiv
The remains of a male believed to date back to the Roman occupation of Britain have been discovered in Watton, west Norfolk.
The bones were unearthed during work to turn a former RAF base into housing and are thought to have been buried around AD43 to 410.
BBC Radio Norfolk's Elizabeth Dawson spoke to site developer Edward Parker and lead archaeologist Mark Holmes to find out more about the discovery.
(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.co.uk ...
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A burial with absolutely nothing interred with the deceased?
Looks sinister to me.
He had a “Fist Pump” T-shirt, but somebody lifted it...
Sorry
He was standing on line waiting for his free food from the Roman empire, hoping that the empire would stand up to the moosli - I mean barbarians - and return to it’s glory days.
Sound familiar ?
The headline is misleading. There is no evidence that the skeleton had any relation to Roman occupiers, other than a possible chronological coincidence.
Should have said “Roman Era Skeleton”, but they didn’t have enough space. ;^)
Somebody looked up the dates of the Roman occupation of Britain! Ah, journalists.
Counting the space, that would have added four characters to the headline. More accurate would have been “possible Roman era skeleton”. I thought in neolithic burials (at least in Europe) the body was buried lying on its side, facing West. What direction was the body facing?
He looks comfy.
Do materials disintegrate easily in the 2000 yr old graves? ( I realize that it depends on enviromental conditions)But this grave looks like it is, somewaht, in a dry place. Most of the skeletons look as if they were buried naked.
Depends on the pH of the soil. Acidic soil tends to dissolve even bones over time.
Well, the archaeologist described it as a “Roman crouch burial,” which is a term I’ve never heard before. It doesn’t show up on a Goggle search - but it’s apparent that the archaeologist associates it with Roman burials.
If you listen to the interview, it is made very clear why they state that it is a Roman burial. The skeleton is in th e”Roman crouch position,” which is apparently the way that the Romans buried their dead in Britain at the time. There were also pieces of Roman pottery in the grave.
The lead archaeologist, Mark Holmes, is the speaker. He is the lead of a team of archaeologists working on the site. THEY are the people that identified the skeleton as Roman, not the journalists.
The interview is actually quite enlightening. There are other reasons to mock them, but mockery in this case is not applicable.
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