Roman gully and upright buried jar (possibly belonging to an inhumation) at the site of No. 6 Roman Road, (Caesaromagus Site T), Orchard Street Hall (EHER 83157)

A small excavation in 1964 recorded a complete buried jar which may have accompanied an inhumation, and a small gully containing building debris. The debris suggests that it was closely associated with masonry ‘domestic’ buildings lying beyond the site to the south, in the presumed environs of the mansio.

1964. Archaeological excavation. In 1964 a complete everted-rimmed jar was found set upright ‘in the natural soil’ below the junction of two later ditches; the vessel contained ‘only gravelly clay’. It may have accompanied an inhumation, the grave pit not being recognized by the excavators, but it lies on the opposite site of the east-west boundary from the others. To the south-west, a small gulley was found in 1964. From its filling, and from the post-Roman ditch which truncated it, came building debris (flint, septaria, opus signinum, tesserae and wall plaster), an assemblage of late Roman pottery, thirteen coins extending into the later 4th century, animal bones and oyster shells. The debris suggests that it was closely associated with masonry ‘domestic’ buildings lying beyond the site to the south, in the presumed environs of the mansio. <1> The site was later excavated again in 1972, see EEX