| Abstract: |
Excavations between 1987 and 2003 on the fringes of the site of Camulodunum at Colchester revealed an extraordinary funerary site with a Middle Iron Age antecedent. The earliest of the five enclosures that defined the site was an Iron Age farmstead, abandoned by the mid-first century BC. Important finds from this period include an assemblage of Middle Iron Age pottery and two currency bars. The other four enclosures were the burial place of members of an élite Catuvellaunian family, including a ‘Warrior’ and a ‘Doctor’. A wide range of grave goods was recovered, both imported and of native manufacture. They include a set of surgical asnstruments, ceramic table services, wine amphorae, fine glassware and metal vessels, dress accessories, textiles, weaponry and several gaming boards, one with the pieces in position as if in play. A metal strainer bowl in the Doctor's burial had last been used to make a tea containing artemisia. The burial rite had included feasting and the breaking of the vessels used for the meals. The characteristics of the enclosures and the funerary rites are linked with the Folly Lane and King Harry Lane sites in Verulamium, and with sites in northern Gaul |
