HARPER ROAD (HR79 sk 311)

This burial is one of the earliest from Londinium, dating from a.d. 50–70. It was located in Southwark (fig. 1) and excavated in 1979 as part of student training by the Southwark and Lambeth Archaeological Excavation Committee.Footnote ²⁵ The grave was aligned on a north-east/south-west axis and the cut was c. 2.3 m long by 1.0 m wide. The skeleton had been placed on one side, in an extended position, with the skull orientated to the south-west; nails of various sizes (including one 101 mm in length) recovered from the grave fill may indicate the presence of a coffin.Footnote ²⁶ The burial was also accompanied by several objects usually associated with a ‘female’ gender, some deemed ‘indigenous’ and others ‘Roman’, which are discussed below.

Bioarchaeological analysis revealed that the skeleton was an adult aged c. 21–38 years old, whose skull and pelvic morphology were determined to be female.Footnote ²⁷ Unexpectedly, aDNA analysis identified male chromosomes (XY), with the expected number of reads for a genetic male in the X-chromosome regions (AMELX and SOX3) and Y-chromosome regions (SRY, TSPY, AMELY). This result does not mean that the bioarchaeological or aDNA data are incorrect; rather it suggests that this individual likely had a sex development disorder. Today, the incidence of such disorders is 1:4,000 to 1:5,000 live births, the signs of which can either present at birth or develop during childhood and adolescence.Footnote ²⁸ We do not enter into speculation about this person's physical appearance, as the specific disorder could not be established and it was not possible to explore this further with aDNA due to limited resources for the current project. What is clear is that this individual was identified as a woman by her community,Footnote ²⁹ a decision that we continue here and at the Museum in her display and gallery interpretation.Footnote ³⁰

Unfortunately, none of the long bones were complete enough to estimate stature. The assessment of ancestry suggested that she was White European, while the HirisPlex test found that she had brown eyes and dark black hair. Her maternal haplotype was determined to be H2a2a1 whose geographic distribution (c. 500 years ago) covers eastern Europe, the Caucasus and Central Asia.Footnote ³¹ A re-evaluation of the stable isotope evidence for mobility suggested that in all likelihood she grew up in Britain.

The evidence for disease was limited to some degeneration in the joints, commonly observed in archaeological populations: a rotator cuff injury on the lesser tubercle of the left humerus, caused by a fall or else through over-use of the shoulder-joint, and degenerative changes to one cervical and one lumbar vertebra.Footnote ³² Only nine dental positions and three teeth were observable, but only one dental position had evidence for disease — periodontitis, a common infection of the gums.Footnote ³³ No aDNA evidence for bacterial or viral diseases was found.

Her burial includes an important group of grave goods which have been the subject of a careful assessment by Cotton and this is expanded upon here (fig. 2).Footnote ³⁴ A group of Claudio-Neronian pottery reflects access to imported vessels and perhaps the adoption of continental styles of dining. As Bird, Hall and Cotton suggest, some vessels may also have been carefully selected for inclusion in the burial because they were stamped with the potter's name Vitalis, perhaps a play on the words for life and vitality, which would indicate literate mourners with a relatively sophisticated knowledge of Latin.Footnote ³⁵ A rectangular mirror placed at her feet implies the deliberate construction of identity through grooming and, as examples from Iron Age and Roman burials tend to be associated with females, this object also has gendered connotations.Footnote ³⁶ Grooming practices may have been very visible symbols of personal cultural preferences in this early period, as some, such as arrangement of the hair using hairpins, were new introductions to Britain from the Continent,Footnote ³⁷ while others, such as the preparation of cosmetics in two-piece copper-alloy sets, had a strong local Iron Age pedigree.Footnote ³⁸ But while the mirror is a Roman type, it provides no real hint as to whether Harper Street woman used it according to indigenous practices or in a more ‘Romanised’ manner.Footnote ³⁹

FIG. 2.

Superior view of the reconstructed burial from Harper Road (HR79 sk 311). (© Museum of London)

The single most distinctive object is the bronze penannular neck ring/torc (fig. 3), which was broken and placed near to the mirror. The torc was rectangular sectioned with squared terminals and decorated with a ring-and-dot pattern on the hoop and feather motifs and transverse hatched bands at the terminals.Footnote ⁴⁰ Cotton has argued that it was a ‘pidgin’ object, a ‘single creative response to a particular situation at the very beginning of Roman contact’.Footnote ⁴¹ While the find remains unique, we can now better situate it through comparison with two other classes of personal ornament, with which it would seem to be closely related. The first is a contemporary group of penannular strip armlets whose form and decorative vocabulary are closely related to the torc. These are distributed in south-eastern Britain, including London, but are particularly focused around Hertfordshire and East Anglia in the territory of the Trinovantes and the Catuvellauni.Footnote ⁴² The second type is represented by several copper-alloy penannular torcs of slightly different form, recently excavated from Baldock (Herts.) by the Heritage Network and awaiting publication, which have similar ‘feathered’ motifs on the terminals.Footnote ⁴³

FIG. 3.

The torc from the Harper Road burial. (© Museum of London)

The Harper Road torc can, therefore, be seen to be closely associated with a regionally distinct group of objects focusing on body care and decoration, although its precise significance remains ambiguous. Similarly regionalised dress traditions were arising across Britain at this time and several include new styles of torc/neck ring, often alongside the prominent use of Celtic art, which may perhaps indicate a stress on local identities in response to the Roman conquest.Footnote ⁴⁴ The South-East has largely been excluded from such discussions, but it is possible that this group of material represents a comparable phenomenon, although the relatively short-lived nature of this group and the character of the decoration which eschews the same prominent use of insular La Tène art is rather different. This may relate to the specific local social context, particularly the speed of the initial conquest in the South-East and the huge influx of ‘Roman’ material culture, well represented in the Harper Road burial, which offered alternative sources of inspiration and competing avenues for the expression of power and prestige.Footnote ⁴⁵ In fact some of the decoration could be seen as continental in inspiration; indeed Crummy has made a strong case that, while the armlets are a Romano-British regional phenomenon, they may have actually been armillae worn by Roman soldiers, battle honours from early campaigns in Britain, on the basis of the distribution and decoration, which includes cross-cut bands that could be interpreted as wreath motifs perhaps with connotations of victory.Footnote ⁴⁶ Interestingly, the decorative emphasis of the Harper Road find is slightly different, with the wreaths all but absent. The feather or perhaps palm motifs found on some of the bracelets are enlarged and elaborated, more closely matching the Baldock torc. Cotton has gone as far as to suggest that these represent peacock feathers, which in a Classical tradition have connotations of immortality, apposite in a funeral context, as well as connections to the goddess Juno, protector of women.Footnote ⁴⁷

We are left with two related interpretative possibilities. The first is a torc that belongs to a continentally influenced local dress tradition, which may in turn have influenced the design of British armillae found in the area. The second is a torc closely related to the local Baldock finds but which also draws upon Classical imagery and the specific provincial aesthetic model of the armillae worn by the Roman soldiers and veterans who would have been frequently encountered in places like Londinium. Such imitation may be taken as an acknowledgement of the power of these individuals, but if transformed into a ‘native’ torc worn by a woman and arguably with ‘feminised’ peacock iconography could alternatively be seen as a powerful subversion of male military symbolism.Footnote ⁴⁸

In light of these findings, we support Cotton's assertion that this woman's burial is a response by indigenous communities to the rapidly changing world of first-century south-east Britain.Footnote ⁴⁹ The richness of the burial and the objects included within support the evidence for female power and agency in late Iron Age societies and hint at her status and role within her community. During periods of colonisation it is women, more so than men, who act as crucial intermediaries between cultures.Footnote ⁵⁰

52–63 LONDON WALL (LOW88 sk 695.5)

This individual was recovered from a pit in association with other disarticulated human bones from an industrial and domestic site in the Walbrook valley, close to the Walbrook stream and dates to a.d. 125–200 (fig. 1).Footnote ⁵¹ During this time, this part of London was an important industrial area for the manufacture of glass, metal-, wood-, leather- and bone-working and a dumping area for waste. However, in the upper part of the valley (outside the settlement's walls), it was an important ritual space used as a cemetery and for the deposition of votive offerings.Footnote ⁵² The site was located within the Roman city walls, hence the evidence of clay-and-timber buildings and a gravel road, as well as amphorae, glassware, a wooden bowl and utensil, bone hairpins, an ivory bracelet, decorative copper-alloy mounts, many shoes (e.g. a soft one-piece moccasin), copper-alloy coins and a writing implement.Footnote ⁵³ The cranium was recovered from an oval-shaped pit which was 3.40 by 2 m and 0.50 m deep, suggesting that it was not dug as a waste pit. It was filled with silt and contained a minimum number of ten adult male crania (no mandibles were recovered) and one adult right femoral shaft. These crania had evidence for extensive and lethal peri- and ante-mortem blunt and sharp-force injuries and have been interpreted as victims of ritualised and structural violence, either as headhunted victims of the Roman army, executed prisoners or defeated gladiators.Footnote ⁵⁴

Bioarchaeological analysis determined that the cranium was of a male (this time supported by the chromosome results XY), aged 36–45 years old. Assessment of ancestry determined that he was White European, while the HirisPlex test found that he had brown eyes and dark black hair. His maternal haplotype was J1b1a1, which has a very wide distribution (c. 500 years ago) across Europe, North Africa, the Near East and the Caucasus.Footnote ⁵⁵ The mobility isotope results were sadly inconclusive for this individual. He has a low lead concentration (1 ppm) that places him on the edge of the anthropogenic English lead ore field, but too close to the culturally defined parameters for Roman Britain to exclude him definitely from being British, while his strontium result falls within the London region, though these values are also found in many parts of Europe.Footnote ⁵⁶

He had poor dental health, as calculus, carious lesions and periodontal disease were observed; the latter was also identified using aDNA, as Tannerella forsythia, Treponema denticola, Porphymonas gingivalis and Fusobacterium nucleatum were present. These dental diseases are frequently encountered in Romano-British and Roman urban populations.Footnote ⁵⁷ He also experienced episodes of compromised health during childhood, as his dentition had evidence for enamel hypoplastic defects, while healed cribra orbitalia and porotic hyperostosis were present to several of his cranial bones. These diseases have multifactorial origins, including periods of ill health, anaemia, a heavy parasite load and compromised nutrition.Footnote ⁵⁸ Environmental and other bioarchaeological data from Britain attest to the presence of parasites and the frequent occurrence of these diseases in both rural and urban populations.Footnote ⁵⁹

The majority of observed pathology related to violent injuries, including a healed fracture to his left zygomatic bone, an injury typically produced during assaults.Footnote ⁶⁰ Dental chipping is also present, which has a multifactorial origin but can be caused by blows to the face.Footnote ⁶¹ Most of the injuries to his cranium were sustained shortly before or at the time of death, with multiple blunt-force fractures observed to the facial area and right temporal bone, attesting to the individual having sustained numerous direct blows to the faceFootnote ⁶² (fig. 4).

FIG. 4.

Anterior view of the male cranium (LOW88 sk 695.5) showing evidence for dental chipping and injuries to the facial cranial bones. (© Museum of London)

Peri-mortem injuries of this nature are not observed in the normative cemetery populations of Londinium. Although many males have healed fractures produced by inter-personal violence such as nasal bone fractures, there is not the same evidence for this degree of ‘over-kill’ in the other individuals.Footnote ⁶³ This reinforces the atypical and unusual injury pattern and types of violence observed at London Wall. There was no taphonomic evidence from this cranium or others in the same context to suggest that the remains had been carried to the site by water-action.Footnote ⁶⁴ Therefore, it is most likely that along with the partial remains of nine other men, his cranium had been collected from elsewhere in the settlement and deposited in a specially dug pit in the Walbrook valley. The inconclusive stable-isotope results mean that unfortunately we are unable to clarify the possible reason for his death (i.e. trophy head).

65–73 MANSELL STREET (MNL87 sk 37 B604)

This burial was part of the ‘Eastern’ burial ground of Londinium, located to the south of a spur-road off the main road from the settlement which leads to Colchester (fig. 1).Footnote ⁶⁵ The area is divided into two plots, defined by the presence of the road and two ditches (one east–west, the other north–south) that show evidence for maintenance, being redug and cleaned on several occasions, supporting the suggestion that the burial grounds along this important road were formally managed.Footnote ⁶⁶ The burial plots were in use between the second and fourth centuries, with this burial being assigned a date of a.d. 180–400.Footnote ⁶⁷ The burial had been heavily truncated in later periods by the digging of a gravel pit and concrete foundations. The individual had been laid out in a supine position with the head orientated to the west; no extant grave goods were observed, though it is possible that existing goods were destroyed during these periods of disturbance.Footnote ⁶⁸

The damage to the grave meant that the human remains were limited to a highly fragmentary axial skeleton (skull, thorax, spine and pelvis) (fig. 5). Analysis estimated this individual to be a male (supported by the genetic results), aged over 45 years old, who had Black ancestry, while the HirisPlex analysis found that he had brown eyes and dark black/brown hair. His maternal haplotype was V16, which is evenly distributed across Europe and North Africa (c. 500 years ago), with the stable-isotope results showing that he had spent his childhood in the London region.Footnote ⁶⁹ The presence of people born in London with African ancestry is not an unusual or atypical result for Londinium, as a multidisciplinary study of a southern cemetery has found,Footnote ⁷⁰ nor for other urban centres in Britain, as with the female known as the ‘Ivory bangle Lady’ from Eboracum (York).Footnote ⁷¹

FIG. 5.

Skeleton of the adult male (MNL87 sk 37 B604) from Mansell Street. (© Museum of London)

The fragmentary and truncated nature of this male's skeleton meant that some health indicators such as cribra orbitalia were not observable, because the roofs of the eye sockets were not present. Examination of the extant dentition showed that he suffered from calculus, carious lesions and associated periapical abscesses but also periodontal disease, which was also attested in the aDNA results that detected the presence of Tannerella forsythia, Treponema denticola and porphyromonas gingivalis. As above, these are frequently observed diseases in Romano-British populations.

The male also suffered from osteoarthritic conditions of the spine, as degenerative changes were observed to the cervical, thoracic and lumbar vertebrae; also present from the 7th to 11th thoracic vertebrae (mid to lower chest area) was Diffuse Idiopathic Skeletal Hyperostosis (DISH) (fig. 5), a condition which causes ossification of the ligaments, particularly the spinal column, and is related to age.Footnote ⁷² Previous palaeopathological studies suggested a link between DISH and a rich diet/obesity, but these have been rejected in light of more recent research and clinical findings that have identified low serum levels of the natural osteogenesis (bone formation) inhibitor Dickkopf-1 (DKK-1) in sufferers of this disease. Much of the earlier data regarding the co-existence of DISH, diabetes and obesity were derived from North American populations.Footnote ⁷³ The fusion of multiple vertebrae would not have been particularly debilitating, but he is likely to have experienced stiffness to his back.Footnote ⁷⁴

His health and mobility were further compromised by the presence of Paget's disease in the 9th to 12th thoracic vertebrae, the pelvis and right portion of the mandible (fig. 5).Footnote ⁷⁵ This disease causes bone deformity, because the balance of bone remodelling is affected, whereby bone tissue is destroyed in specific areas (e.g. pelvis, spine and skull), followed by a period of abnormal bone formation, creating bone which is weaker. The sufferer may be asymptomatic, or experience bone pain, joint stiffness, have warm skin over the affected bones and skull enlargement and deformities.Footnote ⁷⁶ Interestingly, clinical research by Morales and colleaguesFootnote ⁷⁷ found that sufferers of Paget's were more likely than a control group to have DISH, suggesting that there may be a genetic mechanism which makes Paget's disease sufferers more susceptible to developing DISH. Regrettably, these two diseases could not be explored at a genetic level in this male.

Our research has been able to establish certain aspects of this man's physical appearance and compromised mobility as contributing to aspects of his identity and life experience. At present, he is the only individual from Londinium to present with both DISH and Paget's disease and the only male to be diagnosed with Paget's disease.Footnote ⁷⁸ However, the disturbed and truncated nature of his burial context prevents us from exploring social aspects of his identity, such as status.Footnote ⁷⁹ The extant information suggests that he is typical of the many hundreds of Roman burials from Londinium.

52–56 LANT STREET (LTU03 sk 385, B15)

The burial was located in a cemetery in the southern settlement of Londinium, Southwark, and was excavated by Pre-Construct Archaeology in 2003 (fig. 1). This cemetery area was first established in the late first to second centuries. Following a hiatus in the burial record, burial begins again at the site in the mid-third century and extends into the early fifth century.Footnote ⁸⁰ The site developed into a large managed cemetery, with the richest burial belonging to this person;Footnote ⁸¹ the original publication assigned the burial to the fourth-century phase of activity on the site, although the dating of the grave goods may support a slightly earlier, third-century date.Footnote ⁸²

The bioarchaeological analysis of the skeleton revealed a 14-year-old girl, a result supported by the chromosomal results XX. Her ancestry was determined to be White European, while the maternal haplotype was HV6, which (c. 500 years ago) is found in southern and eastern Europe, west Asia and north-east Africa. The HirisPlex test could only identify her eye colour with certainty, which was blue. Initially, it was suggested that she originated from North Africa,Footnote ⁸³ but a revised interpretation of her stable-isotope results for mobility found that she had spent her younger childhood in the southern Mediterranean.Footnote ⁸⁴ Dietary isotopes taken from rib bone (Table 1) indicated that she had been consuming terrestrial and marine resources local to the area. Bone turnover rates for the rib were estimated as an average of five years, meaning that she had lived in Londinium at least since the age of nine.Footnote ⁸⁵

Her dentition revealed very poor dental health, as multiple dental caries were present, as well as calculus and periodontal disease — Tannerella forsythia, Treponema denticola and Fusobacterium nucleatum were detected using aDNA techniques. Several of the large carious lesions affected the first mandibular molars whose crowns were also severely affected by enamel hypoplastic defects. The thin and defective enamel in these teeth would have increased her risk of forming caries, because the crown would have been more vulnerable to decay.Footnote ⁸⁶ The enamel hypoplastic defects were more severe than observed in other subadults from Londinium, with lines of exposed dentine observable to the naked-eye, most notably to the right maxillary first incisor, which also had a talon cusp present. This is a very rare non-metric dental trait and is characterised by a large, additional, projecting cusp on the lingual aspect of the tooth.Footnote ⁸⁷ It is more frequently observed in females, with the maxillary incisors most commonly involved.Footnote ⁸⁸ Other minor congenital conditions were observed in her skeleton, including an extra vertebra and partial union of some of her foot bones.Footnote ⁸⁹ These conditions have a hereditary component but can also be caused by minor environmental disruptions during embryogenesis;Footnote ⁹⁰ only the changes to the foot bones are likely to have impacted mobility, as this will have caused minor restriction to movement, though this may not have been detectable in everyday life.Footnote ⁹¹

Evidence for remodelling new bone was also observed to the legs, particularly the medial aspect of the tibiae (lower leg). This is a non-specific reaction to an unknown disease process, but the remodelling nature of the bone suggests that she was recovering from this health condition.Footnote ⁹² The radii and ulnae bones of the forearms display very mild anterior-posterior and lateral plastic bowing, while the shafts of the femora also show mild anterior-posterior bowing; no evidence for healed injuries was observed radiographically. This represents a remodelled case of mild ricketsFootnote ⁹³ and, given that the changes are limited to the forearms and thigh bones, it is likely that she developed this metabolic disease when she was a crawling baby. Rickets was a disease recognised by Roman medical writers, who noted that toddlers in the city of Rome frequently developed the disease, but because the cause was unknown (see Rohnbogner's contribution above), they thought that it was caused by poor maternal/carer behaviour.Footnote ⁹⁴ It is possible that a contributing factor was the use of swaddling for pre-mobile infants, a recommended childcare practice, as well as sun-avoidance practices, or covering of the skin by high-status females and mothers, which could then result in deficiency in the infant.Footnote ⁹⁵

The girl's body was placed on a bed of chalk-like material in an extended position, with her arms by her side and her head orientated to the north-west.Footnote ⁹⁶ Five grave goods were found. A glass aryballos (oil flask) was placed to the left of her head and an amphorisk flask to the right. A wooden casket with copper-alloy fittings and carved bone inlays (fig. 6), one of which depicted a female figure, was placed below the feet, and a clasp knife whose ivory handle was carved to depict a leopard holding meat or prey in its forepaws (fig. 7); the knife also had an 18-link copper-alloy chain. Nearby was a trilobate pierced handle copper-alloy key — they may have been attached but radiography was unable to determine whether this was true (fig. 6).Footnote ⁹⁷

FIG. 6.

Bone inlays from the wooden casket buried with LTU03 sk 385, B15. (© Pre-Construct Archaeology)

FIG. 7.

Ivory leopard clasp knife buried with LTU03 sk 385, B15. (© Pre-Construct Archaeology)

The ivory leopard clasp knife handle is a rare findFootnote ⁹⁸ and both the quality and the material suggest that it would have been an expensive and prized possession. Such knives were probably general purpose ‘pocket knives’ carried on the person. That it was possibly chained together with a small key, perhaps for a jewellery box or similar, may lend some support to this interpretation as a private objectFootnote ⁹⁹ and it is possible that the fierce creature was also envisaged as a guardian of such a box and its contents.Footnote ¹⁰⁰ It is not clear if this key fits the casket, as no lock was identified and the metal fittings were poorly preserved.Footnote ¹⁰¹ This is a box of some quality with figurative bone inlay depicting a female bust. No close parallel can be offered but figural bone veneer of similar style appears elsewhere in Britain, although depicting male rather than female figures.Footnote ¹⁰² Any contents have not survived but other small boxes from Roman female burials sometimes contain personal items such as dress accessories or toilet equipment.Footnote ¹⁰³ The glass vessels too are perhaps most likely to have held perfumes or oils to do with bathing. Similar glass vessels have appeared in other burials and, in some parts of the Empire, are depicted on female tombstones.Footnote ¹⁰⁴ They are certainly unusual, but while their stylistic affinities are with a range of vessels from across the Empire, there are no exact parallels to suggest a source.Footnote ¹⁰⁵

Ivory objects such as the knife handle are rare finds in Roman BritainFootnote ¹⁰⁶ and may have travelled as personal possessions instead of resulting from trade. Given that the closest source of the raw material was Africa, it is noteworthy that the Lant Street girl is likely to have originated from the southern Mediterranean; another example of an individual with African ties buried with ivory objects can be cited from York.Footnote ¹⁰⁷ It is plausible to suggest a link between the presence of ivory objects and the background or life courses of these individuals, perhaps as childhood possessions or treasured family heirlooms; considerable stress was placed on the African connections of the Lant Street knife in the original publication.Footnote ¹⁰⁸

However, even if the biographies of some ivory objects might be intimately tied with personal connections to Africa and thus have personal significance, it is questionable whether they would be deliberately used to express that aspect of an individual's identity. Eckardt notes the lack of explicitly ‘African subjects’ depicted in ivory and argues that ivory was not symbolically linked to Africa per se. Footnote ¹⁰⁹ This knife handle, depicting a big cat found in Africa, is a possible exception to this rule but it should be remembered that leopard imagery is found across the Roman world and that these cats, and indeed elephants, are also found in Asia.Footnote ¹¹⁰ Competing symbolic connotations include the use of leopards in Bacchic imagery, noted by Ridgeway et al.,Footnote ¹¹¹ and may link the find to fertility and rebirth. Venationes in the arena are another popular iconographic context for wild beastsFootnote ¹¹² and such popular imagery links this knife to other clasp knives which regularly have sporting subjects, including those relating to hunting, chariot racing and gladiatorial combat.Footnote ¹¹³ Dangerous wild animals and the bloody events of the arena both have their place in funerary symbolism across the Empire.Footnote ¹¹⁴

The funerary treatment and life history of this adolescent girl raise many potential interpretations regarding her identity. Her skeleton bears many of the dental and osteological changes associated with enslavement though these are not exclusive to that status group,Footnote ¹¹⁵ while her grave goods suggest an individual of comparatively high status. Her childhood journey from the southern Mediterranean to Britain, and her careful burial and the choice of accompanying objects included with her, emphasise the mutability of identity in the Roman Empire, particularly in atypical ‘melting pot’ settlements where diverse ethnicities, cultures, status groups and occupations lived together and created new ‘Roman’ places; overall, she reflects Londinium, a unique settlement in Roman Britain.