Roman Bioarchaeology Carnival XXV

We've got tumors, tombstones, and tablets this month...

Pre-Roman Period

• 7 January - Baby bones from an Etruscan site have been interpreted as evidence of careless burial practices.  I strongly questioned the interpretation here.

• 27 January - A skeleton from about 500 BC was found during construction on a golf course in Dundee, Scotland.

Roman Period

Roman tombstone found in
Muslim grave in Turkey

• 1 January - A tombstone dating to the Roman period was found in a Muslim grave in Turkey.  The tombstone commemorated a woman named Julia who died in 213 AD.

• 7 January - Ancient pills found on a cargo ship that wrecked off the Italian coast in 140 BC were analyzed.  The tablets were zinc-based and were likely used as eye medicine.

• 7 January - A new volume on the Porta Nocera necropolis at Pompeii has come out, detailing the excavations that took place between 2003 and 2007.

Facial reconstruction
of a 2nd c AD Romano-
British man

• 7 January - LiveScience covered the AIA paper of my good friend Beth Greene, whose research focuses on the footwear of the inhabitants of Vindolanda on Hadrian's Wall.

• 9 January - An ancient tomb was discovered in Avellino (in Campania), probably dating to the Roman period.  No additional information seems to be available.

• 16 January - Storms in Scotland have unearthed a Roman-era skeleton.

• 16 January - Eight graves dating to the 3rd-4th century were found in Colchester, England.

• 18 January - Forensic analysis was performed on a skeleton dated to about 200 AD discovered on the University of Wales, Newport campus.  A facial reconstruction was done, in the style of a Fayum mummy portrait, and is being shown at the Caerleon Museum.

Ovarian teratoma from Roman Spain

• 21 January - The skeleton of a woman with a teratoma was found in Spain, dating to the late Roman period.  She was buried in the cappuccina style.  The teratoma included several teeth and was likely present in or near her ovary.

• 29 January - Another story about the discovery of a 1st-2nd c AD Roman sarcophagus in someone's backyard.  They had no idea it was worth a great deal of money.