Lankhills: ethnicity and death in Late Roman Winchester

Lankhills, Winchester, is a landmark site for Roman cemetery studies. Excavations there in the 1960s set new standards and explored the evidence for different ethnic groups. More recent redevelopment provided an opportunity for Oxford Archaeology to test these findings, and make major new discoveries. The final report by Paul Booth, Andrew Simmonds, Angela Boyle, Sharon Clough, Hilary Cool, and Daniel Poore cements Lankhills’ status.

In the late 4th or early 5th century AD a dignitary left the north gate of Venta Belgarum, modern Winchester, for the last time. His final journey was a short one, but it was not taken alone. Beyond the city gate, the Roman road split, forking left towards Corinium, Cirencester, or right to Calleva Atrebatum, Silchester. Those accompanying the man turned left. Here the road was lined by Venta Belgarum’s northern cemetery which, in accordance with Roman law respected throughout the empire, had grown up beyond the city limits. Passing graves that had filled over the last 350 years, the group processed towards their destination, about 450m away, a vacant plot near the cemetery’s furthest boundary.

RIGHT The face of Late Roman Winchester? This skull from a 26- to 35-year-old male hints at a multicultural 4th-century AD city. A number of features including the low-bridged nose, slightly projecting jaw, and small brow ridges are more in keeping with Black and Asian groups than Caucasians. — The face of Late Roman Winchester? This skull from a 26- to 35-year-old male hints at a multicultural 4th-century AD city. A number of features including the low-bridged nose, slightly projecting jaw, and small brow ridges are more in keeping with Black and Asian groups than Caucasians.

The dignitary lay within a simple casket of sawn planks, probably oak, nailed firmly together. Yet no one who caught a glimpse of the figure within could have doubted his status. The badges of office that had distinguished him in life were arranged around his body. Only one of these appears to have been worn: a magnificent gilded crossbow brooch clasped over the right shoulder. Although a feature of life in early Roman Britain, garments that required fastening with a brooch had largely fallen out of fashion by the late 4th century, distancing this individual from the clothing worn by ordinary townsfolk. The brooch probably pinned an impressive cloak that wrapped the corpse like a shroud.

Any such cloak would have obscured a further, important symbol of the deceased’s rank: his belt. Rather than being worn by the corpse, this was neatly folded and placed on his legs, where it would be far more visible to onlookers. The quality of the piece was equal to this treatment, for the gilded silver buckle and amphora-shaped strap end would have been a rare sight in Roman Britain. Only one other example of belt-fittings made from this metal has been found in a grave, from near Gloucester. But even these fittings are eclipsed in rarity by the style of copper-alloy and iron spurs riveted to soft leather boots lying beside the body. Hilary Cool has argued that similar spurs, hitherto unknown in Romano-British burials, are visible on an ivory panel showing the half-German Roman general Stilicho, marking them out as part of the costume of soldiers or officials of the highest rank.

Related Posts