Roman Sarcophagus Uncovered in London

News July 18, 2017

SHARE:

LONDON, ENGLANDBBC News reports that a 1,600-year-old Roman sarcophagus with an opened lid was unearthed at a construction site on Swan Street in central London. An infant’s bones and a broken bracelet were found in the soil near the sarcophagus. Archaeologists think the coffin was opened in the eighteenth century, but they are not sure if the infant’s remains were removed at that time. “We always knew this site had the potential for a Roman cemetery, but we never knew there would be a sarcophagus,” said Gillian King of Southwark Council. The sarcophagus will be taken to the Museum of London and the bones will be analyzed. To read more about the archaeology of the city's Roman past, go to "London's Earliest Writing."

  • Features May/June 2017

    The Blackener’s Cave

    Viking Age outlaws, taboo, and ritual in Iceland’s lava fields

    Read Article
    (Photo: Samir S. Patel)
  • Features May/June 2017

    After the Battle

    The defeat of a Scottish army at the 1650 Battle of Dunbar was just the beginning of an epic ordeal for the survivors

    Read Article
    (Mary Evans Picture Library / Alamy Stock Photo)
  • Letter from Greenland May/June 2017

    The Ghosts of Kangeq

    The race to save Greenland’s Arctic coastal heritage from a shifting climate

    Read Article
    (Photo: R. Fortuna, National Museum of Denmark 2016)
  • Artifacts May/June 2017

    Maya Jade Pectoral

    Read Article
    (Courtesy Toledo Regional Archaeological Project, UCSD)