Basic info

Collection

Archaeology

Object name

Gypsum burial

Object category

Roman

Description

Two fragments of a gypsum burial cast from the inhumation of a child; broken along the spine. The cloth impression is particularly well preserved. Labelled as 'Impression of the Body of a Child showing her girdle and buckle with two armlets of jet. Found in a lead coffin in front of the Railway Station'. Eboracum (p108): 'Most of the surface appears quite smooth with no sign of textile, but it is possible to see some cloth impressions in the folds. The gypsum seems to have run between the layers of cloth in some place. At one end, where the smoother upper (or inner) layer of gypsum has flaked away, there is visible a fine plain cloth. The count is warp about 56, weft about 80 threads per inch. This is the cloth which wrapped the body. A small area of rather coarses cloth is exposed nearer one end, and represent an outer layer of cloth. The count is warp about 36, weft about 56 threads per inch, Yorkshire Herald, 26 Nov 1892'.

Production date start

200

Production date end

410

Period

Roman