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A Roman Mausoleum and Associated Marble Sarcophagus and Burials from Welwyn, Hertfordshire
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 09 November 2011
Extract
In December 1976 the construction of a new private road and car park at The Hall, Welwyn, exposed traces of Roman building material. These were observed by Tony Rook, who led the rescue team of the Welwyn Archaeological Society on the site. Initial excavation during the Christmas break was limited to the removal of the hardcore already on the new road and the plotting of the feature so exposed. Later, excavation was permitted throughout 1977 in two bays of the proposed car park. The corner of a very large robber-trench was investigated, and, with the information from the road, supplemented with trial-trenching, the plan of a mausoleum and its enclosure ditch was recovered. One length of the enclosure ditch contained inhumation burials of Roman date. A report on the skeletons by C. B. Denston is appended.
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- Copyright © Tony Rook, Susan Walker and C. B. Denston 1984. Exclusive Licence to Publish: The Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies
References
1 Analytical techniques are quoted from IGS Stable Isotope Report No. 49. ‘Carbon and oxygen isotope ratios were determined for the powdered marble samples. Carbon dioxide, produced from about 10 mg of sample by reaction with 100% phosphoric acid in vacuo (McCrea, 1950) was analysed on a V.G. Isotopes Ltd. ‘903’, triple-collector isotope ratio mass-spectrometer. The raw data were corrected for isobaric interferences and instrumental effects in a way similar to those given by Craig (1957) and Deines (1970). The results are given in the usual notation as parts per thousand variation of 13C/12C and 18O/16O ratios from those in the international standard, PDB calcite. The analytical errors (standard error of the mean) are about 0·020% and 0·025% for 13C and 18O respectively.’
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