News
COULD YORK’S HEADLESS ROMANS BE GLADIATORS?
York Archaeological Trust is throwing down the gauntlet to would-be archaeologists to see if they can solve a puzzle that has sparked debate about human remains unearthed in York almost a decade ago.
Skeleton with displaced skull
During 2004-5 York Archaeological Trust excavated 80 burials in York, in advance of housing developments. The site was part of a large cemetery on the outskirts of the Roman town, across the river from the legionary fortress.
The burials are dated to between the early 2nd century to the late 3rd century, and probably cover most of the period of Roman occupation in northern England (about AD70-410). Almost all are male, and the vast majority are adults – not the usual demographics for a Roman cemetery.
However, despite the evidence for a harsh lifestyle and a violent death, these people had been carefully buried. There was also evidence that funerary feasting had taken place at the cemetery; this often occurred on the anniversary of the death of loved ones.
Were these people gladiators, who were both revered (as superstars) and reviled (as associated with death)? Or were they people who had been executed but given a decent burial? How about soldiers who had died in battle? Or was this evidence of a group of people who had unusual views on religion or burial practises?
A Channel 4 documentary, which will be aired on 14 June, reignites the debate about the skeletons’ origins and follows the lead theory that the remains are those of Roman gladiators. But, as Kurt Hunter Mann, who is leading the research at York Archaeological Trust explains, there is evidence to support other theories, too:
“There are numerous pieces of evidence that point towards or are consistent with the interpretation that the skeletons are Roman gladiators, but there is also other evidence that suggest the individuals could have been soldiers, criminals, or members of a religious cult,” he says.
Kurt Hunter-Mann excavating two skeletons
The Trust will launch a website next week – www.headlessromans.co.uk – presenting all the evidence and inviting members of the public to make up their own minds.
One of the most significant pieces of evidence supporting the ‘gladiator’ conclusion is a large carnivore bite mark – probably inflicted by a lion, tiger or bear, which archaeologists believe may have been sustained in an arena context.
Other evidence includes a high incidence of substantial arm asymmetry – a feature mentioned in ancient Roman literature in connection with a gladiator; some healed and unhealed weapon injuries; possible hammer blows to the head (a feature attested as a probable gladiatorial coup de grâce at another gladiator cemetery at Ephesus in Turkey).
“An alternative interpretation – that the individuals are soldiers – is potentially undermined by the fact that most of them have been violently decapitated and that one of them has a large carnivore bite mark, almost certainly sustained in an arena context,” says Mr Hunter-Mann.
Above: skeleton with misplaced skull and heavy lead leg-shackles
“Another potential interpretation – that they are all criminals – appears to be undermined by the substantial respect (and grave goods) with which many of them were buried.”
“This is a fascinating discovery that gives a real insight into the world of interpreting archaeology,” says York Archaeological Trust Chief Executive, John Walker.
“With archaeology, you are very rarely dealing in the definite. There are almost always elements of ‘possibly’ and ‘probably’ and the archaeologist’s job is to weigh up the evidence and make an informed judgement on the most likely explanation.”
For your chance to look at the evidence and make your own decision, visit www.headlessromans.co.uk from Monday 14th June. ‘Gladiators: Back From The Dead’ will be shown on Channel 4 on Monday June 14th at 9.00pm.
New Discoveries
Excavations at Heslington to the east of York have unearthed an extensive prehistoric farming landscape. A skull discovered on the site was found to contain intact brain tissue – the oldest surviving human brain found in Britain, dating to the 6th century BC. The skull is now being studied by a team of specialists to determine how it survived and glean any information about life and death in Iron Age York. More details in Yorkshire Archaeology Today issues 16, 17
The Hungate site has recently uncovered the remains of a timber-lined sunken building similar to those found at the nearby Coppergate site excavated in the late 1970s. Timbers from the Hungate building have been dated by dendrochronology to the late 960s AD. Full article will appear in the next issue of Yorkshire Archaeology Today.
The seal of
a horologiarius
Researchers from York Archaeological Trust have identified
a remarkable object which shows that around AD 1300 York
was at the forefront of science and engineering. The Trust
undertook excavations before developers George Houlton and
Sons transformed the former York College for Girls in Low
Petergate into an award-winning series of luxury apartments,
retail units and a restaurant. In contrast, the Trust's
archaeologists revealed that in the medieval period the
site contained a series of metalworkers'
workshops. One of the objects they recovered was a small
circular copper-alloy disc. Expert cleaning in YAT's Archaeological
Conservation Laboratory has now revealed that one face carries
an inscription around its edge, and that the object is therefore
a seal matrix that could be impressed into wax to seal documents.
It probably dates to around AD 1300. Part of the inscription, in
abbreviated Latin, can be read as SIGILLUM ROBERTI HOROLOGIARII
DE IERM, and this translates as 'The seal of Robert the
clockmaker from ?Yarmouth'.
Clocks were first made in England only a very few years
before this seal may have been lost. An itinerant horologiarius
is mentioned in the account books of Beaulieu Cistercian
Abbey, Hampshire, in 1269-70, and there are records of a
clock made by the Augustinian Canons of Dunstable Priory,
Bedfordshire, in 1283. In the following few years there
are records of other clocks at major English churches –
Exeter Cathedral in 1284, St Paul's London in 1286, Merton
College Oxford and Norwich Cathedral before 1290, Ely Abbey
1291, Canterbury Cathedral 1292, and Salisbury Cathedral
before 1306. York has hitherto been missing from this list,
but now it seems possible that Robert the clockmaker may
have been engaged upon works in York c.1300. The most likely
venue for his skills must be York Minster, although the
first references to a clock there do not appear in the surviving
documents until much later.
