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The Roman Body Found on Grewelthorpe Moor in 1850: A Reappraisal

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 November 2011

R.C. Turner ,
M. Rhodes  and
J.P. Wild
R.C. Turner
Affiliation:
CADW, Welsh Historic Monuments
M. Rhodes
Affiliation:
Department of Urban Archaeology, Museum of London
J.P. Wild
Affiliation:
Department of Archaeology, Manchester University
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Extract

In the spring of 1850, a remarkably well-preserved male bog-body was found on Grewelthorpe Moor, near Ripon, North Yorkshire. The body was clad in brightly-coloured woollen garments and a pair of leather ‘sandals’, the style of which induced two late nineteenth-century writers to conclude that it was that of an ‘ancient Roman’ (see below). More recently, Tinsley recognized the importance of this find and suggested that the body may have been a ‘Roman soldier’. In the absence of adequate supporting evidence, one of the present authors (J.P.W.) previously expressed skepticism concerning the body's supposed Roman date. Two woollen fragments which survive in the Yorkshire Museum in themselves provide insufficient dating evidence. Fortunately, the surviving shoe-sole is of a distinctive Roman-British regional type. This article presents the dating evidence, reappraises the clothing in the light of its confirmed Romano-British origin, and re-assesses the circumstances behind the death in the light of comparable finds.

Type
Articles
Information
Britannia , Volume 22 , November 1991 , pp. 191 - 201
Copyright
Copyright © R.C. Turner, M. Rhodes and J. P. Wild 1991. Exclusive Licence to Publish: The Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies

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