So far you’ve explored the Roman attitudes to death and how it was the responsibility of the living to ensure that the transition from life to death was dignified. Great …
Here, we look at how osteologists use the cremated bone fragments to reconstruct the details of the funeral, particularly the funeral pyre. When bone is subject to extreme heat it …
Throughout this course you’ve been unlocking the secrets behind COL_20, one of the 22 cremations from Roman cemeteries around Colchester selected by our research team. You’ve watched Carolina and Emily …
Watch Carolina and Emily discuss how an osteologist uses their knowledge of human remains to identify the diseases someone lived with; often this is easier for unburnt than cremated remains, …
Carolina joins Emily again to find out what particular bone fragments can tell us about the biological sex and age of the individual. (We use the term ‘biological sex’ or …
Carolina joins Emily again to find out what the colour of the bone fragments can tell us about that person’s funerary process – and the temperature of the funeral pyre …
As academics and researchers, we have a lot of questions about the individuals whose cremated remains reside in the museum. To find some answers, Dr Carolina Lima met with Osteologist, …
Colchester is Britain’s earliest recorded town and, incredibly, the cremated remains of the people who lived there and helped birth Roman Britain survive. These cremated remains were excavated over 100 …
Until just a few years ago, isotope analysis could not be used on cremated remains because the heat of the pyre damaged the tooth enamel and altered the isotope signatures …
Strontium location analysis addresses the inherent bias towards elite men in the written sources (described in the previous Step) to discover information about migration and emigration in the Roman Empire. …
In this article, you will learn more about cremation process. Although there was no single, prescribed, ‘correct’ Roman funeral, numerous ancient sources tell us that they consisted of four parts: …
You may be surprised to know that studying the Roman dead reveals a great deal about the behaviours of the living. We can gain a good understanding of Roman ideas …
In his Eclogues (the first of his three major works), Roman poet Virgil referred to the Britons as being “wholly separated from all the world” (i.66). Before the conquest, Britain …
The University of Reading and Colchester Museums, in partnership with Durham University, have been leading an exciting research project to uncover new information about Roman Britain from the cremation burials …
We hope you’ve enjoyed the course. Below are ideas for how you can take your learning further. Visit Colchester Museum Visit the exhibition inspired by the research you’ve followed on …