Roman Sarcophogus Found at London Site

NewsDay ^ | November 30, 2006 | Associated Press

[SunkenCiv]

Archaeologists discovered a rare Roman limestone sarcophagus containing a headless skeleton at the site of an historic London's church, authorities said Friday.

The find dates to about 410 A.D. and lay 10 feet below the grounds of the St. Martin-in-the-Fields church near central London's busy Trafalgar Square, outside the boundaries researchers had established for London's Roman city walls.

"The find has opened up an exciting new area of Roman London for study," said Taryn Nixon, director of the Museum of London Archaeology Service.

Excavators and archaeological teams discovered 24 medieval burial sites in the area above and around the Roman sarcophagus during work on the church grounds this summer. The discovery lies in view of the National Gallery art museum and the square, which is often congested with tourists.

The sarcophagus was made from a single piece of limestone from Oxfordshire or Northamptonshire, about 60 miles northwest of London, researchers said. The skeleton, headless and missing fingers, is a 5-foot-6-inch male who died in his 40s. Researchers speculated that Victorian workmen building a sewer stumbled upon the sarcophagus and took the head.

The site is about a mile west of the boundary of Roman London established by researchers, said Roman history expert Hedley Swain.

Archaeologists made two similar finds in London during the 1970s and once at Westminster Abbey during the 19th century.

[SunkenCiv]

from a BBC story about the same find:

A Roman sarcophagus discovered near Trafalgar Square could lead to the map of Roman London being redrawn. The limestone coffin containing a headless skeleton was found during excavations at St-Martin-in-the-Fields Church, central London. The find, which dates from around 410AD, lies outside what were the city walls of Roman London... "All of a sudden we're having to rethink what Roman London really was. This work has literally stopped us in our tracks and given us a new phrase, Roman Westminster." ...Excavations began at St-Martin-in-the-Fields in January 2006 as part of £36m renovations at the church.

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The skeleton's head was probably removed by Victorian workmen

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[SunkenCiv]

Thanks rond and DaveLoneRanger for the FReepmail and links. Looks like this Roman guy was never the head of a large corporation...

To all -- please ping me to other topics which are appropriate for the GGG list. Thanks.

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[coconutt2000]

Archaeologists discovered a rare Roman limestone sarcophagus containing a headless skeleton at the site of an historic London's church, authorities said Friday.

I've been looking for where I misplaced my body...

[Pontiac]

Rare find.

I seem to recall that the Romans as a rule Cremated their dead.

[SunkenCiv]

"I can't feel my legs..."

[SunkenCiv]

Sometimes, sometimes not. Some of the emperors had large tombs built (Hadrian's tomb survives to this day) but their remains were cremations. A bunch of the fatalities of Vesuvius in 79 AD were burials, but that was extemporaneous...

[mass55th]

Maybe he's related to Nearly Headless Nick.

[Sacajaweau]

Early Magician's trick gone wrong!!

[SunkenCiv]

Yeah, looks like Bullwinkle really *doesn't* know his own strength...

[mware]

Famous people connected to the church are: -Charles II, who was christened here.
Nell Gwyn (Charles II’s mistress) is buried here.
Thomas Chippendale (cabinetmaker) is buried here.
Jack Sheppard (highwayman) is buried here.

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks. There's also a reference in the article, that the site was already considered hallowed in Roman times.

[Wallace T.]

By 410 AD, when this person was buried, the Western Roman Empire (including southern Britain) had been Christianized, and the Christian faith has historically opposed cremation because of its link with paganism and the promise of a bodily resurrection of the believers "asleep in Christ". Given the time frame, burial rather than cremation would have been the norm.

[mware]

Amazng what they have discovered under the city.

As I understand it they are still finding bombs that were dropped on London during WW2.

[xcamel]

Do they still get those stone boxes from the "sarcophi-guy" ????

[SunkenCiv]

[singing] Tomb-bye-yah...

[SunkenCiv]

oh, I forgot to give you a...

[rimshot!]

:'D

[SunkenCiv]

source is blocked, but this has more information about this dig:

http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/this_britain/article2029264.ece

[Pontiac]

Fascinating

Thanks for the link.