Remains of Roman 3rd century AD young woman found

Angela

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See:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/kristi...on-discovered-with-beauty-tools/#2de69f6759de

I like the personal details when remains are found.

"Archaeologists have discovered a massive stone sarcophagus in Zülpich, Germany, dating to the 3rd century AD; inside, the remains of a Roman woman and her beauty tools.Located southwest of Bonn, Zülpich was known in Roman times as Tolbiacum, an important way station on the road between Trier and Cologne. Excavations in the area in service of a new sewer line revealed the grave last September along the ancient Agrippa Street.
Because of the number of well-preserved artifacts in this burial and because additional burials were expected to be found, the finding was not announced until yesterday at a press conference."

"The sarcophagus required a full week to excavate, and its lid alone weighed two tons. When archaeologists removed it, they found the skeleton of a young woman, estimated to have been between 25-30 years old at the time of her death.



They also found numerous grave goods including a small hand mirror, a string of pearls, a make-up palette, and a small jar that was inscribed with the Latin "Utere Felix" -- a common expression that means "use this happily" and is somewhat similar to our "good luck" or "good health."
"The focus of the objects is clearly related to jewelry and cosmetics," Susanne Willer of the Rheinisches Landesmuseum Bonn told Der Spiegel. The woman buried in this sarcophagus was "beautiful to the death.""

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[/IMG]Perhaps something in the inscriptions tells them this was a Roman woman versus a wealthy local.
 
I like the personal artifacts too. It gives us a better picture of the person entombed. I am curious if the bottle with the inscription was produced individually or in a batch. It would be an interesting view of commerce for "beauty" items in the time period.
 
I like the personal artifacts too. It gives us a better picture of the person entombed. I am curious if the bottle with the inscription was produced individually or in a batch. It would be an interesting view of commerce for "beauty" items in the time period.

They look pretty uniform, don't they, however they were produced, but it would be interesting to know. They're also quite lovely. Women haven't changed that much have they? :)

Unlucky girl, though, to die so young. All her wealth couldn't save her.

I think sometimes we have a tendency to see some of these remains as just the repository of alleles which can be analyzed, but they were living, breathing human beings just like us. I hope their remains are treated with respect. I remember seeing a documentary of Otzi and thought one of the scientists was very disrespectful in the way he handled the mummy.

I actually dashed off an e-mail to the Institute about it. I hope I'm not turning into one of those people constantly writing "letters to the editor". :)
 
The bottles are made by glassblowing, but its not clear if the term "jar" refers to them or something else.
 

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