Roman stone coffin unearthed during roadworks in UK

Archaeology Magazine ^ | January 6, 2025 | Dario Radley

[SunkenCiv]

A remarkable archaeological discovery takes center stage in the upcoming season of BBC's Digging for Britain airing tomorrow at 8 pm on BBC2. The new season, showcasing some of the most important archaeological discoveries from the past year, opens with an exceptional unearthing—a huge hand-carved Roman stone coffin...

The coffin, weighing 750 kg (about the same as a grown male polar bear), lay untouched for over 1,500 years until a team from Headland Archaeology dug it up. Archaeologists found this amazing artifact during roadworks on the A47 in Cambridgeshire, part of the old Roman road that linked key areas of Roman Britain. As National Highways works to turn the single-lane road into a dual carriageway, they stumbled upon a Roman cemetery near the road.

The huge stone coffin, found while widening the A47 between Wansford and Sutton, had stayed intact in the ground for hundreds of years. The careful digging, led by the Headland Archaeology team, was an amazing mix of engineering skill and historical preservation...

This discovery is part of a bigger plan to make sure that any old or historic items found during road building are recorded and kept safe. National Highways teams up with experts like Headland Archaeology to document and protect these treasures.

This amazing find is part of a bigger effort to find and keep old sites safe during road building. Along with the stone coffin, workers have dug up other cool stuff on National Highways projects in Cambridgeshire, Bedfordshire, Gloucestershire, and Essex. These finds will be shown in upcoming Digging for Britain shows.The twelfth series of Digging for Britain promises to take viewers on a thrilling ride into the ancient world showcasing even more jaw-dropping finds from all over the UK.

[SunkenCiv]

The discovery of unusually well-preserved 4th Century skeletons in Bath led to a further surprise for archaeologists after DNA testing revealed more about their background and ancestry.

The origins of the male skeleton - found buried, contrary to normal Roman custom, in a lead coffin - gave rise to further questions about his life. Can Julian Richards and his team reconstruct who this person was and how he came to end his life in England at the end of the Roman Empire?

This clip is from Meet The Ancestors (2001).

DNA Reveals Surprising Origins of Mysterious 1,600-Year-Old Skeleton | 6:13
BBC Timestamp | 794K subscribers | 794K views | December 12, 2024

[SunkenCiv]

[ClearCase_guy]

The coffin, weighing 750 kg (about the same as a grown male polar bear)

I find the metric system challenging. This little detail helps a lot. Thanks, Mr. Journalist!

[jerod]

Looks like somebody else got there first and took the skeletal remains, and whatever other treasure there was from within the coffin... Probably a very long time ago. The shape is interesting... Instead of being rectangular, it actually has a coffin like shape.

[Red Badger]

“The coffin, weighing 750 kg (about the same as a grown male polar bear)........”

I’m sure that’s a comparison that everyday Brits can relate to................

[aspasia]

=

[Red Badger]

Is that a lead sheet? Lead would kill bacteria and help preserve the body, at least for a while............

[TalBlack]

Not a word about what was in the damn thing!

[SunkenCiv]

It keeps the water out. Based on a similar find in one of the classic episodes of Time Team, opening one requires biohazard suits because of the crud in the air inside.

[SunkenCiv]

It’s from Roman times, and it’s a coffin made for one of the Stones, so I’m guessin’, Keith Richards, but he dug his way out...

[EvilCapitalist]

Lol!

[MikelTackNailer]

I find the metric system challenging. This little detail helps a lot. Thanks, Mr. Journalist!

"Polar bears weigh between 660–1,760 pounds - roughly 21 times that of your common pygmy."