WS 3.ii The Roman Cemetery at Lankhills, Winchester
Giles Clarke (Oxford, 1979)
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Outside the north gate of Venta Belgarum, Roman Winchester, a great cemetary stretched for 500 yards along the road to Cirencester. Excavations at Lankhills from 1967 to 1972 uncovered 451 graves, many elaborately furnished, at the northern limits of this cemetery, and dating from the fourth century A.D. This book, the second in a two-part study of Venta Belgarum, which forms the third volume of Winchester Studies, describes the excavations of these burials and analyses in detail both the graves and their contents. There are detailed studies and important re-assessments of many categories of object, but it is the information about late Roman burial, religion, and society which is of special interest.
Reviews
‘This meticulous and detailed work is of major importance for the study of Roman burial practices and their relevance for our knowledge of Roman religion. No such comprehensive study has appeared elsewhere … a model of what such a work should be.’
Prof. J.C. Mann, British Book News (1980)
‘… auch ein Musterbeispiel für die gesamte spätantike provinzialrömische Archäologie.’ [‘… also a model example for the whole of provincial Roman archaeology in the late Roman period.’
Prof. Jochen Garbsch, Bayerische Vorgeschichtsblätter (1981)