A late Roman burial of a high-status woman in a unique decorated lead coffin discovered in Colchester in 2023 has gone on public display for the first time. She was buried with rich grave goods including a set of fine jet hairpins and glass unguentaria. The coffin, the remains of its occupant and the grave goods make their debut today at the Roman Circus Visitor Centre. The exhibition will run for a year.
The Colchester Archaeological Trust excavated the site of the former Essex County Hospital in advance of housing development construction. The lead coffin was unearthed during the last days of the dig, after the public had been allowed to visit the site for one day, so the new exhibition is the first chance people will have to see her and her accoutrements.
Scientific analysis of the remains determined she was young, in her 20s or 30s, when she died. The elegant, carefully placed grave goods indicate she was someone of wealth. Samples of residues found in the coffin were identified as frankincense and gypsum, indicating expensive imported materials were used in the treatment of her body for burial. Residue analysis also found traces of exotic resins in one of the glass vessels.
Preliminary evidence suggests she may have been Colchester born and bred, but fully Romanized culturally and thanks to her family’s wealth, with access to goods imported from all over the Empire.
Adam Wightman, Director of Archaeology at Colchester Archaeological Trust, said: “This is one of the most fascinating Roman burials we have worked on in Colchester in recent years. The decorated coffin is a beautiful object in its own right, but it is the combination of the coffin, the grave goods and the scientific evidence that makes this burial so compelling. Together they allow us to glimpse not just a person, but the care, ritual and belief that surrounded her burial in late Roman Colchester.”
* This article was originally published here
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