[MR] Metal detector pair find Roman Briton skeleton : www.telegraph.co.uk

[David Chessler]

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Metal detector pair find Roman Briton skeleton


By Gary Cleland
Last Updated: 12:01am GMT 23/11/2007

The 1,800-year-old skeleton of one of Roman 
Britain's "social elite" has been discovered by 
two men with metal detectors who had already 
unearthed a £1 million Viking treasure.

Mags Felter examines the skeleton of a Roman Briton unearthed i

Mags Felter of the York Archaeological Trust examines the skeleton

The father and son team, David and Andrew Whelan 
discovered the skeleton buried in a six-foot 
lead-lined coffin near the Roman town of Aldborough in north Yorks.

The find has excited archaeologists who believe 
the skeleton is probably that of a woman of 
British descent and that the style of coffin 
indicates that she was probably a wealthy landowner.

Andrew Whelan, 35, picked up a strong signal in 
the Aldborough field that he and his father 
searched in August after studying old maps of the area.

After digging they uncovered part of the lead 
coffin only a foot below the surface and decided 
to call in professional archaeologists.

The coffin, which was publicly unveiled yesterday 
and weighs half a ton, was carefully removed over 
the! course of a week from a stone chamber under the field.

The lid was carefully prised off by a team from 
York Archaeological Trust and English Heritage, 
which funded the £16,000 excavation.

Ian Panter, the trust's principal conservator, 
said: "It was an exciting one - you never know 
what you are going to find when you take the lid off."
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They uncovered an intact Romano-British skeleton, 
around five feet six long. It had been buried 
without decorations or jewellery between the 
second and fourth centuries. The Roman empire lasted until the fifth century.

Mr Panter said the skeleton was in such good 
condition possibly because the combination of the 
coffin and chamber prevented ground water seeping through.

He added: "We've not been able to sex or age the 
remains yet although we a re confident it is a female."

English Heritage is to survey the area to see if 
there are any other similar bodies to be found.

Dr Patrick Ottaway, an expert in Roman Yorkshire, 
said the skeleton was probably that of a wealthy 
landowner, "a member of the social elite who 
owned very good farmland in that area, someone whose wealth derived from land".

The person would probably be of British descent, 
rather than a Roman, and would probably have 
played some role in the political hierarchy of the region, he said.

Trusts members at the site of the archeological discovery

The skeleton appears to be that of a wealthy woman

Over the centuries, the roof of the chamber 
housing the coffin collapsed, damaging part of 
the coffin and cracking the skeleton's skull. 
However, the jaw bone and teeth remain intact and 
archaeologists will be able to determine the 
person's age, sex, diet and travel movements.

In January the Whelans uncovered a mass of Viking 
coins, known as the "Harrogate Horde".

Last night Andrew Whelan said: "We don't go out 
expecting to find big things, but it seems that 
this year big things keep finding us."

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