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Rural Life, Roman Ways? Examination of Late Iron Age to Late Romano-British Burial Practice and Mobility at Dog Hole Cave, Cumbria

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 June 2020

Hannah J. O'Regan ,
Keith Bland ,
Jane Evans ,
Matilda Holmes ,
Kirsty McLeod ,
Robert Philpott ,
Ian Smith ,
John Thorp  and
David M. Wilkinson
Hannah J. O'Regan
Affiliation:
Department of Classics and Archaeology, University of [email protected]
Keith Bland
Affiliation:
Edinburgh
Jane Evans
Affiliation:
British Geological [email protected]
Matilda Holmes
Affiliation:
School of Archaeology and Ancient History, University of [email protected]
Kirsty McLeod
Affiliation:
Berwick-upon-Tweed
Robert Philpott
Affiliation:
Department of Archaeology, Classics and Egyptology, University of [email protected]
Ian Smith
Affiliation:
Oxford Archaeology [email protected]
John Thorp
Affiliation:
Lancaster
David M. Wilkinson
Affiliation:
Department of Classics and Archaeology, University of Nottingham, and Life Sciences, University of [email protected]
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Abstract

The scarcity of Romano-British human remains from north-west England has hindered understanding of burial practice in this region. Here, we report on the excavation of human and non-human animal remains1 and material culture from Dog Hole Cave, Haverbrack. Foetal and neonatal infants had been interred alongside a horse burial and puppies, lambs, calves and piglets in the very latest Iron Age to early Romano-British period, while the mid- to late Roman period is characterised by burials of older individuals with copper-alloy jewellery and beads. This material culture is more characteristic of urban sites, while isotope analysis indicates that the later individuals were largely from the local area. We discuss these results in terms of burial ritual in Cumbria and rural acculturation. Supplementary material is available online (https://doi.org/10.1017/S0068113X20000136), and contains further information about the site and excavations, small finds, zooarchaeology, human osteology, site taphonomy, the palaeoenvironment, isotope methods and analysis, and finds listed in Benson and Bland 1963.

Keywords

cavehorse burialinfant burialgold-in-glass beadsrural settlement
Type
Articles
Information
Britannia , Volume 51 , November 2020 , pp. 83 - 116
Copyright
Copyright © The Authors and UKRI British Geological Survey, 2020. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of The Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies.

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Footnotes

1

‘Human and non-human animal remains’ is a deliberate choice of words by the author to reflect that humans are animals.

References

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