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Graves in Wales

4 August 2019
Archaeology

Gary also sent in this link – https://mol.im/a/7317361 .. which is from his mobile (see www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7317361/) and concerns a graveyard discovered during building work at a Welsh college. Some 86 skeletons have been unearthed (and no doubt there are plenty more of them as this is a graveyard that has only had the corner unearthed). They seem to date from the late Roman era or shortly thereafter – the 5th and 6th centuries AD. We are told they have diverse origins – from across Europe. That would of course fit in with a Roman empire date – but not so much in the period after the empire had collapsed. How did these foreigners end up being buried in Anglesey – were there a great number of foreign merchants? No. This seems to be typical media over play as most of the skeletons came from western Britain (and Wales is firmly within that remit). In fact, we have a couple of Scandinavians and a couple of Mediterranean people (described as originating in Spain which was on the trade route to Byzantium). One can only say this is media hype – or perhaps hype originating from a university press release. Another interesting point is that female burials outnumbered those of males (of the species). Various relics of the Roman period were found in the graves – such as coins. This doesn't necessarily date the graves to the Roman period as Roman coins remained in circulation for years after the departure of the Roman armies. However, it does mean that some of the burials must date from somewhere close to the Roman era – which is what was deduced by the archaeologists.

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