The Ruins of the Roman City of Uriconium, at Wroxeter, near ShrewsburyWright, Thomas
History
The Ruins of the Roman City of Uriconium, at Wroxeter, near Shrewsbury
Wright, Thomas
Romans -- England -- Wroxeter; Wroxeter (England) -- Antiquities, Roman
The circumstances under which these skeletons were found are full of
interest. The greater part of them (at least twenty have been found, but
not all in a state to be taken up) were evidently put into the ground
with a certain degree of attention, that is, _buried_. They were not
thrown heedlessly into a pit, but carefully deposited at full length, and
generally near together, the legs and arms for the most part extended,
or, as in the case above described, one arm lying across the body. In
general, nothing particular has been found near them, but only the usual
contents of the soil, such as stones, roots, and fragments of pottery.
In one instance an iron ring, in another, some nails were met with, and
in a third a single coin of Claudius Gothicus. But all these might have
occurred accidentally in the neighbourhood of the bodies, in an old Roman
site, and not have been buried with them. No vestiges of wood derived
from coffins, or of apparel, were discovered. There were no traces of
weapons or articles of domestic use, which were generally buried by the
Romans with their friends, and the place where these remains were found
is within the walls, and could not, therefore, be a Roman cemetery.
4. In more than one instance, bones of very young children have been
found; but in one instance, alluded to at page 68, almost an entire
skeleton of a child was found, which has been preserved, and is in the
Museum. This was found outside the semicircular end of the great
hypocaust, where there must have been a small court. From the smallness
of the bones of the skeleton, and from the circumstance of the teeth
being still contained within the jaw-bone, it may be inferred that this
was a very young infant—perhaps still in arms.
5. A thigh bone has been found, which, having been fractured, has become
united during life.
The most interesting circumstance connected with the human remains found
at Wroxeter, is the large relative proportion of deformed skulls. Of the
nineteen crania found in the orchard and since deposited in the Museum,
eleven are more or less crooked. It has been supposed, and indeed the
opinion is still entertained by some antiquarians, that this deformity
was _congenital_ and not _posthumous_, that is to say, that the persons
to whom these skulls belonged lived and died with deformed heads. And
this was my own view before I had learned that bones are capable of being
bent by pressure in the ground. There can be little doubt that the
deformity has been produced by posthumous pressure, aided by moisture and
the solvent action of certain acids that always exist in vegetable mould.
{99a} Other instances of a like effect have been described by Dr.
Sherman, {99b} and, in America, by the Rev. D. Wilson. {99c}
H. J.
APPENDIX.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account