The coffin was filled with plaster: archaeologists have unearthed a rare burial in England. Photo

Archaeologists in England have discovered a small Roman-era cemetery with an unusual burial in its center. A stone coffin with the deceased covered in liquid plaster was found there.

This type of burial is widely known from Roman urban centers, such as York in England, where there are 45 documented plaster burials. However, they are a rare find in rural areas, as was the case in this case, Live Science reports.

According to Jessica Lowther, an archaeologist who was a member of the excavation team, this type of burial is quite valuable, indicating the high status of the deceased.

"The plaster was skillfully carved and came from a quarry located about 50 kilometers from the burial site, and it would have cost a lot of money to buy and transport it," the archaeological company explained. These factors, combined with the central location of the grave in the cemetery, indicate that the person buried here belonged to the elite or to a prominent family.

Archaeologists say they still cannot fully understand this burial practice, which has been known since Roman times. The mineral was transformed into cement or plaster and then poured onto the deceased to make a solid cast. This process sometimes allowed for the preservation of organic remains, such as clothing or a burial shroud. The plaster from the newly discovered burial is fragmentary, but it retains the prints of the shroud and a small piece of cloth.

The cemetery was discovered by archaeologists ahead of construction work to widen a highway in Cambridgeshire. It dates back to the Roman period in Britain (42-410 AD) and is located along an ancient Roman road. Inside the cemetery, there were 14 tombstones centered around a central grave. Seven more graves were also found outside the moat.

Such a small cemetery is not unexpected or unique in rural Roman Britain. However, it is interesting that it had a variety of burial types, which is rare for such a small cemetery. Among them were cremations, decapitations, burials with iron nails suggesting the presence of a wooden coffin, and even an empty grave. Several graves were also found with a large pile of grave goods, including jewelry.

Experts plan to examine the remains, which they believe will unravel questions related to the cemetery's longevity and how it fits into the surrounding landscape, as well as shed light on the individual stories of those buried here.

Earlier, OBOZ.UA reported that secret tunnels were found in an Italian castle. Leonardo da Vinci was the first to talk about them - they were depicted in his drawings, although all these years they were considered a myth.

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