Roman Dead
Roman Dead is the latest major exhibition at the Museum of London Docklands. Last year, a Roman sarcophagus was found near to Harper Road in Southwark. What does this unique find tells us about the ancient city that 8 million people now call home?
The museum has displayed the sarcophagus alongside the skeletons and cremated remains of 28 Roman Londoners found during archaeological excavations of ancient cemeteries. The exhibition also features over 200 objects from burials in Roman London, exploring how people dealt with death in Londinium. Many items were brought here from across the Empire, showing the extent of London's international connections, even at this early time in its history.
Roman Dead uses these grave goods and the results of scientific analysis of ancient Londoners' skeletons to explore who Roman Londoners were, and show the surprising diversity of the ancient city.
“This exhibition does a good job of bringing together the visible and invisible, with grave goods and funerary objects alongside an arresting display of skeletons.” -Tom Whipple, The Times