Gypsum burials in Roman Yorkshire

In my home area a feature of third and fourth century Roman funerary practice were gypsum burials in which the deceased person was placed in a stone coffin which was then filled up with liquid gypsum - what we would call Plaster of Paris - and then interred.* This may have been because the gypsum could be made from the rocks of the  magnesium limestone ridge which runs north to south through the area, and along which run the lines of several major Roman roads. The coffins tend to be robust, cut out of millstone grit from the area to the west.

Such gypsum burials are not uncommon in England, but the highest concentration is in and around York. Similar burials have been found in Europe and North Africa.

Investigators in York have pioneered research by means of scanning of a number of these burials.

The BBC News website has now reported about a new study that is being undertaken into twenty two of these burials that have been found in or close to York ( Eboracum ), Castleford ( Legiolium or Lagentum ) and Doncaster ( Danum ). Because of the gypsum details of clothing as well as of the body are recorded - analogous to the casts of victims from Pompeii.

The investigation and its potential is introduced at Project investigates mysterious Roman burials in Yorkshire

The York Museums Trust website has an illustrated catalogue entry about a child’s burial discovered in the nineteenth century, which has clear evidence of the shroud material which can be seen at Gypsum Burial | York Museums Trust

An earlier BBC News report from 2023 can be seen at Details of 'unusual' Roman burial ritual revealed by 3D scans

The Smithsonian Magazine has an article about the Roman practice and the modern research at Why Did the Romans Cover Bodies With Gypsum?

The recent discovery of a gypsum burial during work on the A47 near Peterbough is covered by The History Blog at Roman gypsum burial in stone coffin found during highway construction and by Popular Mechanics at Archaeologists Are Stumped After Finding a Peculiar Liquid Burial in an Ancient Roman Cemetery

There is a more detailed archaeological report about the burial and the others associated with it from Headland Archaeology at Roman cemetery uncovered on the A47 Wansford to Sutton dualling scheme

* I do not think this is a service still provided by local undertakers.