One of the largest collections of human and animal bones ever discovered in a Roman context in Britain has been found in a ritual pit at an ancient chalk quarry. Located in Surrey, southeast England, the 2,000-year-old grave contains the remains of 21 people and the first painted penile bone, which appears to have been decorated with red ocher, belonging to a dog.
“There are no other published examples of ocher-painted bones from the Roman or Iron Age in Britain, and given the context in which it was discovered, it is likely that this bone represents a ritual object,” writes Ellen Green, author of a new study on this remarkable collection.
Ritual wells were dug throughout Roman Britain, with particularly large numbers found in Surrey and Kent. These pits, usually filled with offerings, are thought to be associated in some way with the afterlife, although their exact purpose remains a mystery.
A huge collection of animal and human bones
According to Green, many of these pits contain the remains of dogs, which has led to the idea that they may have links to fertility, as dogs were associated with the Roman gods of abundance and reproduction. To better understand these mysterious abysses, Green focused on a shaft discovered at the chalk quarry at the former Nescot College Animal Breeding Center in Ewell, Surrey, originally excavated in 2015.
“The pit at Nescot is unusual in the scale of the deposits, containing approximately 11,400 identifiable bone fragments, representing a minimum of 282 animals and 21 humans,” she notes. The presence of a coin from 77 CE indicates that ritual offerings were placed in the tunnel during the 1st and 2nd centuries, writes IFL Science.
A strange aspect is that only one of the human skeletons was fully articulated, while the other 20 were deliberately manipulated and rearranged, with some bones removed. The only intact body belonged to a woman over 45 years old, while the remaining fragments were associated with people of various ages, from children to adults.
First penile bone painted
Remarkably, 70% of the animal remains belonged to dogs, especially small terriers and pet dogs. A large number of young animals, including puppies, piglets and foals, have also been identified, which supports the hypothesis that the ritual pit may have been linked to birth, reproduction and fertility. However, the most intriguing object discovered at the site was the first painted penile bone, belonging to a dog; this had been painted with an iron oxide pigment, most likely red ocher.
“Although the presence of this baculum is not unusual in itself, the coloration of this specimen indicates human handling,” Green writes, suggesting that the object had special significance.
“A penile bone has obvious connotations, especially given the strong association between dogs and fertility in Roman Britain,” she continues.
Considering the entire collection of human and animal bones found in the pit, the author concludes that “the evidence supports a connection with ideas of abundance, new life, and the agricultural cycle.”
“In this case, a structure full of the dead becomes a potential symbol of new life and regeneration, adding another layer to the increasingly rich tapestry of Romano-British beliefs,” she writes.
The study was published in Oxford Journal of Archaeology.
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Source: www.descopera.ro
