Sarcophagi in Roman Britain - Bollettino di archeologia on line

XVII International Congress of Classical Archaeology, Roma 22-26 Sept. 2008Session: <strong>Roman</strong> and BarbarianLondon is over 145km from these quarries and that <strong>in</strong> the 14 th century it took seventeen days to br<strong>in</strong>g stoneby cart from Nott<strong>in</strong>gham to W<strong>in</strong>dsor, a <strong>di</strong>stance of around 200km, it is clear that significant amounts ofmoney and effort were spent on procur<strong>in</strong>g sarcophagi <strong>in</strong> these areas, even if they rema<strong>in</strong>ed undecorated 42 .Stone as a material clearly had symbolic value.There is also good evidence from the cemeteries themselves to <strong>in</strong><strong>di</strong>cate the prestige value of evenundecorated sarcophagi. Alongside the decorated and <strong>in</strong>scribed pieces from York, undecorated sarcophagihave also been recovered, many of them from the same cemetery sites, <strong>in</strong>clud<strong>in</strong>g the richly furnished oneson the Driffield Estate and at the Railway Station site, near the Scarborough Bridge 43 . In 1807 a barrelvaultedstone-built mausoleum was <strong>di</strong>scovered <strong>in</strong> York that conta<strong>in</strong>ed an undecorated sarcophagus withassociated grave goods dat<strong>in</strong>g it to the late 3 rd century 44 . Similar mausolea, also conta<strong>in</strong><strong>in</strong>g undecoratedsarcophagi have been excavated <strong>in</strong> and around Cambridge 45 . S<strong>in</strong>ce funerary build<strong>in</strong>gs are generally rare <strong>in</strong><strong>Roman</strong> Brita<strong>in</strong>, these examples suggest a level of <strong>in</strong>vestment well above the norm.At Poundbury the ‘special burials’, <strong>in</strong> either stone or lead coff<strong>in</strong>s were regularly arranged <strong>in</strong> clusters,the space between them filled with ord<strong>in</strong>ary graves, arranged <strong>in</strong> approximate rows. Few of these clustersconta<strong>in</strong>ed more than one sarcophagus while groups of up to eight lead coff<strong>in</strong>s were common, perhaps<strong>in</strong><strong>di</strong>cative of the relative value of each material. In seven cases these ‘special burials’ were conta<strong>in</strong>ed with<strong>in</strong>built mausolea, one of which was decorated with wall-pa<strong>in</strong>t<strong>in</strong>gs apparently depict<strong>in</strong>g a civic or religiousscene 46 . Numismatic and ceramic evidence from the site dates the earliest of coff<strong>in</strong>ed burials (Cemetery 3A)to the 3 rd century and many of the more elaborate ones to the 4 th (Cemetery 3C).Elsewhere, there is tantalis<strong>in</strong>g evidence for the <strong>in</strong>tegration of sarcophagus usage <strong>in</strong>to tra<strong>di</strong>tionalmodes of localized elite burial customs. In the limited time available a s<strong>in</strong>gle example, the barrow at Lord’sBridge, near Barton <strong>in</strong> Cambridgeshire, will have to suffice 47 . This undecorated taper<strong>in</strong>g sarcophagus wasexcavated <strong>in</strong> 1907 from beneath the centre of a large barrow on the edge of the <strong>Roman</strong> road south-west ofCambridge. Accord<strong>in</strong>g to reports made at the time of excavation, this barrow measured 14.6m by 7.3m andhad a maximum height of 2.6m, and was clearly <strong>in</strong>tended to be a visible monument <strong>in</strong> the landscape. Largebarrows of this k<strong>in</strong>d represent a cont<strong>in</strong>uation of late pre-<strong>Roman</strong> Iron Age practices and, as Struck has noted,‘show signs of wealth such as <strong>in</strong>ternal grave constructions, valuable conta<strong>in</strong>ers and costly grave goods, andquite frequently conta<strong>in</strong> status symbols’ 48 .What these examples clearly demonstrate is the prestige value of stone coff<strong>in</strong>s <strong>in</strong> late <strong>Roman</strong> Brita<strong>in</strong>.The stone from which these objects were carved was often transported long <strong>di</strong>stances at significantexpense. <strong>Sarcophagi</strong> are frequently associated with built mausolea, and occasionally barrows, tra<strong>di</strong>tionallyhigh status modes of funerary <strong>di</strong>splay. At York, where the epigraphic evidence allows us an <strong>in</strong>sight <strong>in</strong>to thecharacter of the <strong>in</strong><strong>di</strong>viduals commemorated, sarcophagi were the preserve of the social elite – the municipaland military officials who dom<strong>in</strong>ated the upper echelons of third- and fourth-century <strong>Roman</strong>o-British society.All of this is true even of the undecorated pieces tra<strong>di</strong>tionally neglected by scholarship. Stone, as a material,achieved status <strong>in</strong> Brita<strong>in</strong> dur<strong>in</strong>g this period only under external <strong>in</strong>fluences and these locally producedsarcophagi represent the ambitions of a local elite <strong>in</strong>fluenced by such external pressures.42 See SALZMAN 1967, 349, on transport times <strong>in</strong> Me<strong>di</strong>aeval England.43 See RAMM 1958, 413, WENHAM 1960, 316–317, and 1968, fig. 2.44 BANKS 1812.45 TAYLOR 2001, 114 (fig. 48).46 See GREEN 1982, 71–72.47 WALKER 1908.48 STRUCK 2000, 88.Bollett<strong>in</strong>o <strong>di</strong> Archeologia on l<strong>in</strong>e I 2010/ Volume speciale E / E10 / 2 Reg. Tribunale Roma 05.08.2010 n. 330 ISSN 2039 - 0076www.<strong>archeologia</strong>.beniculturali.it/pages/pubblicazioni.html21