Sarcophagi in Roman Britain - Bollettino di archeologia on line

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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
B. Russell – <strong>Sarcophagi</strong> <strong>in</strong> <strong>Roman</strong> Brita<strong>in</strong>AcknowledgmentsI am especially grateful to Kather<strong>in</strong>e Bearcock at the Yorkshire Museum, for allow<strong>in</strong>g me access to the stores <strong>in</strong> whichmost of the sarcophagi from York are kept, and to Richard Annis at the Archaeological Services of the University ofDurham for provid<strong>in</strong>g me with a prelim<strong>in</strong>ary report of the excavations at the BEMCO site <strong>in</strong> Newcastle upon Tyne. Thiswork is related to my doctoral research at the University of Oxford which is funded by the Arts and Humanities ResearchCouncil.Dr. Ben RussellSt John's College, OxfordE-mail: benjam<strong>in</strong>.russell@classics.ox.ac.ukBibliographyBANKS J., 1812. A description of a <strong>Roman</strong> vault, <strong>di</strong>scovered <strong>in</strong> the suburbs of the city of York. Archaeologia,16, 340.DICKINSON C., AND WENHAM P., 1958. Discoveries <strong>in</strong> the <strong>Roman</strong> cemetery on the Mount, York. YorkshireArchaeological Journal, 39, 283–323.ESMONDE CLEARY A. S., 1987. Extra-Mural Areas of <strong>Roman</strong>o-British Towns. BAR British Series169. Oxford.FELL C., 1956. <strong>Roman</strong> burials found at Arbury Road. Proceed<strong>in</strong>gs of the Cambridge Antiquarian Society, 49,13–23.GRAY H., 1922. <strong>Roman</strong> coff<strong>in</strong>s <strong>di</strong>scovered at Keynsham, 1922. Antiquaries Journal, 2, 371–375.GREEN C. J. S., 1982. The cemetery of a <strong>Roman</strong>o-British community at Poundbury, Dorchester, Dorset. In S.M. PEARCE (ed), The Early Church <strong>in</strong> Western Brita<strong>in</strong> and Ireland. BAR British Series 102. Oxford, 61–76.JONES W. T., 1979. A <strong>Roman</strong>o-British stone coff<strong>in</strong> burial at Muck<strong>in</strong>g. Panorama. The Journal of the ThurrockLocal History Society, 22, 26–30.KOCH G., SICHTERMANN H., 1982. Römische Sarkophage. Munich.KRÜGER M.-L., 1972. Die Reliefs des Stadtgebietes von Carnuntum. Corpus Signorum Imperii <strong>Roman</strong>i:Österreich I.3. Vienna.LIVERSIDGE J., 1977. <strong>Roman</strong> burials <strong>in</strong> the Cambridge area. Proceed<strong>in</strong>gs of the Cambridge AntiquarianSociety, 67, 11–38.MÓCSY A., 1974. Pannonia and Upper Moesia: a History of the Middle Danube Prov<strong>in</strong>ces of the <strong>Roman</strong>Empire. London.NOCK A. D., 1932. Cremation and burial <strong>in</strong> the <strong>Roman</strong> Empire. Harvard Theological Review, 25, 321–367.PHILPOTT R., 1991. Burial Practices <strong>in</strong> <strong>Roman</strong> Brita<strong>in</strong>: a survey of grave treatment and furnish<strong>in</strong>g, AD 43–410. BAR British Series 219. Oxford.POWELL W. R., (ed). 1963. A History of the County of Essex. Volume III: <strong>Roman</strong> Essex. Oxford.QUENSEL-VON-KALBEN L., 2000. Putt<strong>in</strong>g Late <strong>Roman</strong> burial practice <strong>in</strong> Brita<strong>in</strong> <strong>in</strong> context. In J. PEARCE, M.MILLETT, M. STRUCK (eds), Burial, Society and Context <strong>in</strong> the <strong>Roman</strong> World, 217–230. Oxford.RAMM H. G., 1958. <strong>Roman</strong> burials from Castle Yard, York. Yorkshire Archaeological Journal, 39, 400–418.RCHM England 1928. An Inventory of the Historic Monuments of London. Royal Commission on HistoricalMonuments (England). Volume III: <strong>Roman</strong> London. London.ROOK T., WALKER S., DENSTON C. B., 1984. A <strong>Roman</strong> mausoleum and associated marble sarcophagus andburials from Welwyn, Hertfordshire. Britannia, 15, 143–162.RUDD G. T., DAINES C., 1971. <strong>Roman</strong> burials from Duloe Road, Eaton Ford, St Neots. Proceed<strong>in</strong>gs of theCambridge Antiquarian Society, 63, 1–8.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.html22
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