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1 results

  • The Body Mine: A Review of Human Remains within Romano-British Well and Shaft Deposits and Evidence for Multi-stage Mortuary Ritual in First-century a.d. Surrey

  • Ellen Green
  • Journal:
    Britannia / Volume 55 / November 2024
    Published online by Cambridge University Press:
    20 February 2025, pp. 117-144
    Print publication:
    November 2024
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  • This paper uses a case study of a shaft in Surrey, England, to illustrate the potential of traditionally overlooked material for increasing understanding of Romano-British minority mortuary rituals. Taphonomic analysis of a substantial assemblage of disarticulated human remains from a first-century a.d. quarry from the Nescot Former Animal Husbandry Centre in Ewell, Surrey, showed evidence of multi-stage post-mortem processing. This included decomposition of the remains within a protected environment followed by removal of certain skeletal elements. The assemblage is then contextualised against the treatment of human remains in other Romano-British shaft and well deposits. Finally, the material is compared to Iron Age examples of post-mortem processing, revealing the Nescot shaft is unlikely to be a direct continuation of pre-conquest practices.