« October 2006 | Main | January 2007 »
December 12, 2006
Roman sarcophagus unearthed in London
Archaeologists excavating near London's Trafalgar Square claim that the discovery of an ancient grave sheds new light on the city's Roman history.
The ancient limestone sarcophagus was discovered in an area of London previously believed to have had no Roman settlements and experts claim that the find dramatically alters the map of Roman London.
Uncovered ten feet underground on the eastern side of Trafalgar Square during excavations at the site of the historic St Martin-in-the-Fields church, the coffin is thought to date from around 410AD and contained a headless skeleton.
The site is believed to have housed a Roman villa and indicates that Roman London extended at least a mile beyond the boundary established by experts. Dating from the period when Roman rule in Briton was starting to wane, the skeleton may have been damaged by Victorian builders laying sewer pipes and seventh century Anglo-Saxon artefacts have also been uncovered in the area.
(via William Gibson's blog)
Posted by adrian at 04:26 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack