Excavations at The Lant St Cemetery
Edited by Frank Meddens
Fieldwork and photos by AOC London. © Copyright Museum of London 2004-2007
The Lant St cemetery was excavated at 52-56 Lant St in Southwark by AOC. PCA Ltd carried out the assessment of the site archive and will carry out the analysis and produce the publication.
The cemetery was probably located astride Stane Street on the margin of the Roman settlement of Southwark with the surrounding countryside. Various ditches cross the excavated area on a northwest to southeast alignment. Various phases of use of the site for disposal of the dead have been recognised . During the 1st century AD the area had a number of ditches cut across it and on the west side was an oval pit with the disarticulated remains of at least two individuals including one adult female. There is little evidence for activity for the late 1st and 2nd centuries AD, although there is a single cremation burial dated to the early 2nd century, and there are 9 inhumation dated to the 2nd century. For the 4th century there are a further 78 burials and a single cremation.
There is also evidence for the formalised interment of a small female dog with grave goods, including a chain, beads and a pendant. This dog was buried without its head or its lower limbs. Two further dog burials were found, one in a ditch and the second in a ritual well or shaft.
The inhumation burials include a multiple interment, and the bodies were positioned supine, prone and on their sides. Orientations are predominantly with the head to the northwest, although, southwest is also common. Three of the burials are associated with deposits of lime or chalk, and there is some inter-cutting of the graves.
Four ditches cross the site, three of which are on a northwest by southeast alignment of these the two smaller ones had silted up by the late 1st early 2nd century while the larger one continued in use into the late 4th century. The 4th ditch is on a roughly east west alignment and it too appears to have gone out of use by the late 1st early 2nd century. It should be noted that the position of the earlier ditches continues to be respected by the graves to the end of the cemeteries use, suggesting that above ground features, such as banks or perhaps hedges continued to mark their positions.
Of particular interest is the grave of a young adult of female circa 1.61 m tall with some dental pathology. This burial was on the east side of the site, she was supine and with her head on the northwest side of the grave. The burial was found on a bed of chalk or lime. The grave goods comprised a bone inlaid casket, and an ivory handled folding knife as well as two extraordinary glass vessels. Of the casket the copper alloy fittings and carved bone inlay survived. The inlay would almost certainly have been on the top and included a female bust, which would probably have been set under a gabled pediment, forming the centrepiece. Triangular and rectangular fragments and narrow strips, some decorated, would have probably formed a
string course around the edge of the casket. The principal pieces of bone inlay in
the casket has parallels in the design of Roman tombstones. The folding had an iron blade
with an elaborate ivory handle carved into the form of a leopard, decorated with dots over the body. The leopard has its paws outstretched, possibly gnawing on a piece of meat. A copper alloy chain made from figure of eight links has been threaded through the gap between the chin and forepaws. The knife is probably of continental origin. Also found with this group of objects was a copper alloy lever lock key. The key has a trilobate pierced handle with a moulded collar and a short stem. The glass vessels comprise an oil-flask (aryballos) , of late 2nd or 3rd century similar to a vessel from Vaison in France and a small amphorisk of late 2nd or 3rd century date possibly from a trick jug, with parallels in the Rhineland.
Numerous pottery vessels came from other graves and features including two uncommon tripod vessels in North Kent Shelly Ware and a Black Burnished Weare 1 beaker with burnished decoration and a Chi-Rho on its base which it is dated to the late 4th-early 5th c. A similar vessel came from the Cour de Macon site at Rouen Cathedral in France.
Click here to see images from Lant Street.
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