Archaeologists working at a future construction site of University of Lincoln’s new Sarah Swift building in the city centre of Lincoln (United Kingdom) discovered a previously unknown Roman cemetery. Remains of two babies and an adult, and additional ashes in an urn were uncovered by the team. Previous archaeological work in the area has revealed evidence of Roman buildings dating from the 1st century onwards. Other finds include a large slab of stone, structures from walls, animal bones and shreds of Roman pottery.

So far two infants and the partial skeleton of an adult, who was lying in a prone position, have been found. Further analysis are bound to tell why these people were buried in this spot. One of the babies had been carefully buried beneath a roof tile. Nearby were the cremated remains of another individual in an urn. Roman burials are normally expected along roads leading to the city, so the place where the finds were made might reflect that the area was located outside the earliest Roman city, as archaeologist Carenza Lewis, a member of the Time Team, stated.

(after Lincolnshire Echo)