AFTER a lot of struggle, a Roman coffin discovered at Boscombe Down was moved to its new home at the Salisbury and South Wiltshire Museum on Monday (DECEMBER 17).
The coffin, which weighs approximately three metric tonnes with its lid on, needed lots of helpers and a forklift truck to heave it into its new place of rest in the main foyer of the museum.
It is thought to be approximately 1,750 years old and held the remains of a woman cradling a child in her arms. It was discovered earlier this year as part of an excavation on land owned by a Bloor Homes and Persimmon.
advertisement
Although the human remains had deteriorated, the calf skin shoes of the child and the cork-soled slippers of the adult had both been preserved. A beaker from France was also found in the coffin, along with a jet necklace and copper anklet.
Adrian Green, museum director, said that the woman must have been of some importance as the coffin was the only one made of stone out of the 200 burials at the site, plus she had the French beaker with her. "There's a story behind it. What that story is, we don't know, but it's very interesting - it must be important," he said.
"Also, with small archaeological finds they spend a year or so being looked at. Wessex Archaeology wanted to find a home for it as soon as possible as it's a recent and important discovery."
Adrian said the museum had never had anything as extraordinary as the coffin. "We are known for our archaeological and prehistoric discoveries, but we don't have a huge amount of Roman findings in the museum, so it plugs a gap," he said.
If you liked this article and would like to share it with others on the web who might be searching for good content we've made it easy for you to do it.
At the bottom of all articles, you'll see links to six sites. These sites - commonly called 'social bookmark' or 'social news' sites - have large communities of web users who share and rate interesting, useful and fun things on the web.
Clicking the links will automatically add the address of the story you are reading to one of these sites, letting you share it with others. Each site will ask you to register to share stories. Registration is free and once a member, you can store, recommend and search for stories that interest you.
Print
Email this
Comment
