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Roman textile remains from pipe burial
Fragment of linen textile from a burial found in a lead canister decorated with three rings of bead and reel pattern and three applied vertical strips. From the lid a narrow leaden pipe had evidently at one time communicated with the surface. The cylinder contained cremated bones of a person aged at least 35 years, wrapped in a roughly walled cist built into a grave pit.
The pipe burial cremated remains were re-examined in August 2001 by Dr Alice Roberts of Bristol University and modern analysis could not confirm the sex of the individual.
Analysis in 2023 of organic residues found on the linen textile using a Fourier-transform infrared spectrometer (FTIR) revealed frankincense was involved in the funeral rites associated with the pipe burial.
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Site Name: Ultra Pontem, Caerleon
Notes: Found during building operations in Ultra Pontem, the suburb of Caerleon on the southern bank of the Usk, some 60 yards east of Yew Tree House and 550 yards east-south-east of the south-east end of the bridge.
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