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A Roman Lead Coffin with Pipeclay Figurines from Arrington, Cambridgeshire

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 November 2011

Alison Taylor
Alison Taylor
Affiliation:
Department of Property, Shire Hall, Cambridge
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Extract

In November 1990 a new sewage pipe was being laid at Wraggs Farm, Arrington, when a JCB bucket struck the coffin (FIG. I). The Archaeology Section of Cambridgeshire County Council was alerted immediately and, after a visit to the site to assess the problem, the burial was excavated on the following day under the difficult conditions imposed by a deep narrow construction trench (PL. VII). Excavation was made more awkward by the need to remove heavy lead in reasonable condition from very sticky and intransigent clay in a confined space. Surviving bones were extremely fragile and fragmentary, which also posed problems. Figurine fragments had already been collected by workmen and soil containing them had been removed, so no more could be found.

Type
Articles
Information
Britannia , Volume 24 , November 1993 , pp. 191 - 225
Copyright
Copyright © Alison Taylor 1993. Exclusive Licence to Publish: The Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies

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