The Ruins of the Roman City of Uriconium, at Wroxeter, near Shrewsbury

by Thomas Wright

15. Two hoops of another nave, with the wood remaining between them.

Human Remains.

1. Parts of three human skeletons found in the hypocaust B. Two of the skulls are almost entire, and one is broken into fragments. The latter is remarkable for its great thickness. One of the two former from its form, is most probably the head of a female, and the bones of the pelvis of one skeleton are also characteristic of the female sex. One jaw-bone must have belonged to a very old person, as not only the teeth but even the sockets are gone. One hundred and thirty-two coins were found in the hypocaust with these skeletons. See page [41].

2. Five human heads, and other parts of human skeletons, were first dug up in the orchard, near the river. Of these, four were singularly deformed,—the one eye being in advance of the other and the face oblique. Ten other skulls have since been found in the same place, and have been arranged in the Museum. Of the ten above-mentioned three are deformed like the others, four are so broken and defective that their form cannot be ascertained, three are not deformed. One of the latter is a very large skull, well formed, but with very strong projecting cheek (malar) bones, and a projecting occiput.

3. The principal bones of a skeleton (female?) belonging to one of the skulls, stretched on a board (as well as could be done on the spot) just as it lay in the ground.

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.