LONDON, ENGLAND—The Guardian reports that a Roman mausoleum that may have stood two stories tall has been uncovered at a development site in the Southwark area of London, where Roman mosaic floors have previously been found. Researchers from the Museum of London Archaeology (MOLA) said that the remains of the mausoleum include an earlier mosaic floor featuring a central flower and concentric circles. This floor surface was surrounded by a platform where burials were placed. The building is thought to have been dismantled during the medieval period, although surviving walls and the lowest entrance steps have been unearthed, along with more than 100 coins, scraps of metal, pottery fragments, and roofing tiles. More than 80 Roman-era burials containing copper bracelets, glass beads, coins, pottery, and a bone comb were discovered in the area around the mausoleum. “This relatively small site in Southwark is a microcosm for the changing fortunes of Roman London—from the early phase of the site where London expands and the area has lavishly decorated Roman buildings, all the way through to the later Roman period when the settlement shrinks and it becomes a more quiet space where people remember their dead,” explained MOLA archaeologist Antonietta Lerz. To read about an ancient face cream unearthed at a Roman temple complex in Southwark, go to “The Pursuit of Wellness: Beauty.”
