Roman Wooden Bed Unearthed in London

News February 5, 2024

London Roman Funerary Bed
(© MOLA)
SHARE:
London Roman Funerary Bed

LONDON, ENGLAND—According to a report in The Guardian, the disassembled pieces of a complete Roman funerary bed have been recovered from waterlogged soil near the underground River Fleet in central London. The well-made oak bed, which has carved feet and was joined with small wooden pegs, came from the grave of a man who died in his late 20s or early 30s. Archaeologist Michael Marshall of the Museum of London Archaeology (MOLA) explained that there are accounts of Romans being carried on beds like this one in funeral processions, and that they are sometimes found depicted on tombstones. “We didn’t know that people were buried in these kinds of Roman burial beds at all,” he said. “That’s something that there is no previous evidence for from Britain.” Five rare oak coffins were also found in the Roman cemetery. To read about other Roman artifacts uncovered in the city, go to “Roman London Underground.”

  • Features November/December 2023

    Assyrian Women of Letters

    4,000-year-old cuneiform tablets illuminate the personal lives of Mesopotamian businesswomen

    Read Article
    (Attraction Art/Adobe Stock)
  • Letter from El Salvador November/December 2023

    Uneasy Allies

    Archaeologists discover a long-forgotten capital where Indigenous peoples and Spanish colonists arrived at a fraught coexistence

    Read Article
    (Courtesy Roger Atwood)
  • Artifacts November/December 2023

    Sculpture of a Fist

    Read Article
    (Museum of Fine Arts, Boston/Bridgeman Art Library)
  • Digs & Discoveries November/December 2023

    The Benin Bronzes’ Secret Ingredient

    Read Article