Links

Colchester Archaeological Report 9

The excavations and finds associated with the cemeteries of Roman Colchester provide one of the largest pools of information in the country about Romano-British burial practice. Over 1,400 graves from the town have been catalogued and about 2,000 objects from the cemeteries (coffin nails and human bone excluded) are preserved in the Colchester Museums.

Colchester Archaeological Report 9 presents accounts of the excavations in Colchester between 1971 and 1988 which are related to cemeteries, churches and monastic institutions.

At Butt Road over 700 Roman inhumations were excavated as well as a rectangular apsidal building believed to have been a Roman church. The earliest burials were on the boundaries of small, possibly agricultural, plots. Next followed a small cemetery where the graves were aligned north-south. The latest burials belonged to a larger overlying Christian cemetery, apparently founded c 330, in which the graves were aligned east-west. Powerful evidence for family plots was provided by stratigraphical considerations, and from the distributions of grave goods and the presence or absence of certain traits apparent in the skulls. The presumed church is of particular interest because of the evidence for funeral meals.

The volume also contains reports on the excavation of small parts of two Roman cemetery areas elsewhere in Colchester. Also included is an outline and discussion of the large but unfinished catalogue of Roman graves from Colchester compiled by M R Hull before his retirement as museum curator in 1963.

Post-Roman topics include St Giles's Church (12th century), St John's Church (pre-1095), the precinct wall of St John's Abbey, and the Crouched Friars. As in Colchester Archaeological Reports 3 and 6, the volume provides descriptions and discussions of the excavated structures and of the objects closely associated with them. Many of the 'loose' finds, specifically Roman pottery, post-Roman pottery, Roman small finds, animal bone, and glass are to be or have been published as separate corpora. Reports on the human bone are included in the volume. Contributors include Stephanie Pinter-Bellows (human bone), Dorothy Watts (discussion of the evidence for Christianity), and D Shimmin (the Crouched Friars).

Publication of the report was made possible by a generous grant from English Heritage.

How to order