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Analysis of hundreds of human and animal bones recovered from a Roman quarry shaft at Ewell, Surrey, has revealed the presence of a red-painted dog baculum (penis bone), which may have had some religious significance.
The Nescot shaft, as the quarry is known, was discovered in 2015 as part of a small Roman roadside settlement. It was found to contain around 11,400 human and animal bones, which had been deposited over at least nine visits between the early 1st and early 2nd centuries AD (dated through associated pottery and coin finds). Around 76% of the bones belonged to dogs, representing one of the largest assemblages of canine remains found in a Romano-British archaeological feature, and, as the bones show little evidence of butchery or burning, it has been suggested that the shaft’s contents may have been intended as some kind of ritual deposit.
If the remains did serve a ceremonial purpose, the presence of so many dogs might indicate a link to fertility rites. ‘Dogs are often associated with fertility, healing, and the underworld,’ explained Ellen Green, a PhD researcher at the University of Reading, whose work on the Nescot shaft assemblage (which is set to be published in a forthcoming issue of Britannia) identified the baculum. Close analysis of the assemblage as a whole suggests that the dog and human bones had been extensively handled in comparison to the other animals in the shaft, furthering suggestions that the canines had held a particular significance – and, in keeping with links to fertility, the baculum seems to have been singled out for special treatment. Ellen’s X-ray fluorescence analysis revealed that this bone had been painted with iron oxide, producing a red-ochre hue.
This is the only known example of red ochre-painted remains from a Roman context, but the colour is commonly associated with ritual practices from early prehistory, and it was used as an ingredient in some paints used for decorating Roman wall plaster. As for the baculum itself, no direct parallel has yet been found from the Roman period, although the Romans often used phallic symbolism to ward off ill fortune (see CA 315).
‘The Nescot shaft certainly indicates that we have a lot more to learn about Romano-British ritual and religion,’ Ellen said, adding that ‘the human remains within the shaft imply a long, multi-step mortuary practice involving the curation of remains, which has not previously been recognised in Roman Britain’.
Text: Rebecca Preedy / Photo: courtesy of Ellen Green
