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An Unusual Roman Fettered Burial from Great Casterton, Rutland

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 June 2021

Chris Chinnock
Affiliation:
Museum of London Archaeology cchinnock@mola.org.uk mmarshall@mola.org.uk
Michael Marshall
Affiliation:
Museum of London Archaeology cchinnock@mola.org.uk mmarshall@mola.org.uk

Abstract

In 2015, an unusual burial was uncovered during construction works at Great Casterton, Rutland. A male adult human skeleton, secured at the ankles with a pair of iron fetters and a padlock, was buried in a probable ditch. Iron hobnails were present around the feet of the individual. A radiocarbon date (AMS) from the burial produced a date of a.d. 226–427 with 95.4 per cent probability. This example appears to be the first definitive archaeologically excavated instance of an individual buried in this manner in Roman Britain. The character of the burial may imply that this was a slave, although other possibilities are also considered, as are the wider social and symbolic implications of the inclusion of shackles in a burial.

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Articles
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of The Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies

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