The most basic type of Roman inhumation grave was a rectangular pit into which the body was placed and then covered with earth. Sometimes the body might be shielded by re-used ceramic roof tiles or contained in a plain wooden box.
In Eboracum, Roman York, none of these modest grave types contained gypsum burials. Instead, all bodies of the dead who were covered with liquid gypsum in the 3rd and 4th centuries A.D. were placed in containers or structures that vary in size, material, and complexity. This reflects a considerable expenditure on the part of the family and survivors.
By far the most common receptacle for a body treated in this way was a carved stone sarcophagus of gritstone, hewn from a single block, with a gabled lid - for example, the sarcophagus in Figure 1. This was usually sealed with a mortar mixture and held in place by iron clamps. About half the gypsum burials in York fall into this category.
Some of the better carved stone sarcophagi that were placed in mausolea bore inscriptions that conveyed the name of the deceased and some biographic information to visitors to the tomb, but, unfortunately, none of those used for gypsum burials do. To date, no gypsum burials in mausolea have been found, and the uninscribed sarcophagi are likely to have been simply buried in the ground.
Approximately 20% of the known gypsum burials were contained in plain or decorated lead sarcophagi made of sheets of lead bent and soldered together. These sometimes were then placed within a gritstone sarcophagus or wood casing, the bodies thus being doubly contained and protected.
Wood coffins were used for gypsum-covered bodies only if they were positioned within a built structure of tile, brick, or stone - perhaps because a simple wood container was deemed to be too simple and modest for someone of status and because it did not offer permanent protection for the body. Such structures are known primarily on the extensive Roman cemetery site of the Railway station built in 1870-1877, and they comprise roughly 7% of York’s gypsum burials. One of these, according to the 19th-century excavation report, was a vaulted brick tomb, probably no more than one metre in height, with a flagstone floor. Another, recorded as a tile tomb (2.60m x 1.40m), had a vaulted roof of tiles set on edge.
A well-preserved gypsum casing two metres long survives from a tomb roughly built of stone slabs on the Railway station site (see Figure 2), the outer edges of the gypsum casing still showing the clear imprints of wood grain from the coffin. The structure, 82cm in height, measured 2.50m x 1.30m and consisted of upright gritstone slabs standing on a few flagstones. The use of gritstone slab chambers for multiple occupants with “divisions for each body” covered in gypsum also is attested at this same cemetery site.
Wood, lead, and stone coffins occur throughout York as containers for inhumation burials, but not always were the bodies covered with a gypsum bath. In fact, burials without gypsum are by far more common in this period in Eboracum. Likewise, tomb structures and vaults made of brick, tile, and stone also are attested for bodies without gypsum. This suggests that some element of personal choice was made by the family of the deceased to pour liquid gypsum over the body as part of the burial rite, even if we do not yet know what the motivation for that course of action was.
It is an aim of the project to investigate these choices, and we will report on our findings as the project progresses.