LIFE AND DEATH IN AROMAN CITY Excavation of aRoman cemetery with amass grave at 120–122 London Road, Gloucester By Andrew Simmonds, Nicholas Ma´ rquez-Grant and Louise Loe with contributions by Paul Booth, Angela Boyle, Carolyn Chenery, Hilary Cool, Jonny Geber, Tim Haines, Kevin Hayward, Martin Henig, Rebecca Nicholson, Cynthia Poole, Kelly Powell, Ruth Shaffrey, Danielle Schreve, Mike Simms, Alex Smith, Jane Timby, Roger Tomlin and Fay Worley Illustrations by Frances Chaloner, Markus Dylewski, Anna Komas, Sarah Lucas, Lucy Martin, Mary Saunders, Georgina Slater and Magdalena Wachnik Oxford Archaeology Monograph No. 6 2008 The publication of this volume has been generously funded by McCarthy and Stone (Developments) Ltd. Designed by Oxford Archaeology Graphics Office Edited by Alex Smith q 2008 Oxford Archaeological Unit www.thehumanjourney.net ISBN 978-0-904220-49-0 Typeset and printed in Europe by the Alden Group, Oxfordshire Contents List of Figures ...................................................................................................................................ix List of Plates .....................................................................................................................................xi List of Tables ..................................................................................................................................xiii Summary ......................................................................................................................................... xv Acknowledgements ......................................................................................................................... xvi CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................ 1 Location,Geologyand Topography.................................................................................................... 1 Archaeological Background ................................................................................................................ 1 The development of Roman Gloucester .......................................................................................... 1 The cemeteries of Roman Gloucester .............................................................................................. 6 The Wotton cemetery ................................................................................................................... 6 The hospital of St Mary Magdalen and post-medieval developmentofthe site............................... 7 The Excavation................................................................................................................................... 7 Previous evaluation of the site ........................................................................................................ 7 The stages of excavation ................................................................................................................. 7 Excavation methodology ................................................................................................................. 7 Location of the archive.................................................................................................................... 8 CHAPTER 2: ARCHAEOLOGICAL DESCRIPTION .............................................................................. 9 Geology and Pleistocene Faunal Remains........................................................................................... 9 Activity Pre-dating theCemetery........................................................................................................ 9 The Roman Cemetery......................................................................................................................... 9 Pre-Flavianburials.......................................................................................................................... 9 Late1st–early 2nd century burials................................................................................................. 12 2nd century or later burials........................................................................................................... 13 3rd–4th century burials ................................................................................................................. 13 Mass grave ................................................................................................................................... 14 Other features............................................................................................................................... 18 The tombstones.......................................................................................................................... 18 Gully1358................................................................................................................................. 19 Pit1301..................................................................................................................................... 19 The Burials ...................................................................................................................................... 19 The cremation burials ................................................................................................................... 19 Urned cremation burials............................................................................................................. 19 Un-urnedcremation burials........................................................................................................ 19 The inhumation burials ................................................................................................................ 20 The grave pits............................................................................................................................ 20 The body ................................................................................................................................... 21 Discrepantburialrites:prone, decapitated and disarticulated burials.......................................... 21 Coffins and other containers....................................................................................................... 24 Grave goods.............................................................................................................................. 25 Ceramic grave goods .................................................................................................................. 25 Footwear .................................................................................................................................. 25 Jewellery................................................................................................................................... 26 Animal remains......................................................................................................................... 26 Medieval and Post-medieval Activity ............................................................................................... 26 Radiocarbon Dating ......................................................................................................................... 28 CHAPTER 3: THE HUMAN REMAINS............................................................................................... 29 Unburnt Human Bone by Nicholas Ma´ rquez-Grantand Louise Loe......................................................... 29 Introduction.................................................................................................................................. 29 Skeletal biology............................................................................................................................ 29 iii Life andDeathinaRoman City Osteological methodology.......................................................................................................... 29 Inventory, conditionand completeness........................................................................................... 29 Estimation of biological age andsex .............................................................................................. 29 Metric andnon-metric analysis .................................................................................................... 30 Taphonomy ............................................................................................................................... 30 Background to the Crossbones methodology.................................................................................... 31 Comparative samples .................................................................................................................. 32 Results.......................................................................................................................................... 32 The discreteinhumations............................................................................................................ 32 Condition and completeness......................................................................................................... 32 Biological age and sex................................................................................................................. 32 Metrical analysis ....................................................................................................................... 33 Non-metric traits ......................................................................................................................