LONDON, ENGLAND—According to a Newsweek report, a Roman sarcophagus was unearthed during work along a section of the A47 highway in the East of England, where a Roman road once traveled the same route. The sarcophagus was recovered from a small, rural cemetery estimated to be more than 1,500 years old. The body had been encased in gypsum plaster before it was placed in the sarcophagus, which was ornately carved from stone brought from a quarry more than 30 miles away. Archaeologist Jessica Lowther of Headland Archaeology said that such “gypsum burials” are usually found in urban centers. “These factors coupled with the central position of the burial within the cemetery points to an important person, perhaps the head of a prominent family,” Lowther said. To read about 6,000 years of history unearthed during road construction along the A14 in Cambridgeshire, go to "Letter from England: Building a Road Through History."
