Hello everybody,
I am analysing the charcoal from a probable bustum burial from Gloucestershire
dating to the Early Roman period and it has a large quantity of elm in it.
Has anyone come across a lot of elm in cremation contexts before? I'm not
convinced that the elm was necesarily the fuelwood and I'm wondering if it
might have been a coffin. Does anyone have any thoughts on this? My experience
from other Roman cemeteries, including pyre sites and busta, is that the
fuel used is nearly always oak and ash, so this one seems to be quite different.
The other interesting thing is that the cremation was incomplete - the body
was only partially charred.
Many thanks
Dana
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Dana Challinor MA (Oxon), MSc
Freelance Charcoal Specialist
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