Osteoarchaeologist Ellen Green To Give A Talk At The ÖAI
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Ellen Green, osteoarchaeologist at the AOC Archaeology Group in Reading is giving a talk titled “Death is only the beginning: Romano-British ritual practices in Surrey, England” Tuesday, 9 June 2026, 18:30 at the ÖAI, Meeting Room on 3rd floor, Dominikanerbastei 16, 1010 Vienna.
The lecture is organised by the Bioarchaeological Society (BAG) and will be held in English in hybrid format in collaboration with the ÖAI.
https://bag.or.at/event/death-is-only-the-beginning/
Abstract: Shortly after the Roman conquest of Britain, a small roadside settlement in Ewell, Surrey developed into a ritual center. Large shafts were cut into the chalk and backfilled with a variety of artifacts and ecofacts. One shaft however stood out, with an assemblage c. 11, 000 bones from 300 humans and animals, all deposited within a 50 year span. The sheer scale of deposition in unique in Britain, and offers a detailed look into ritual practices in the period, including a case of possible human sacrifice.
This paper will seek to cover not only why this impressive sequence of depositions may have been made, but also how. By using stratigraphic, taphonomic and osteological analysis, the ritual processes can be reconstructed, revealing a complex set of actions that highlight the fusion of Iron Age British and Roman practices in the immediate post conquest practice. Additionally by using the same recording methods on both the faunal and human remains, a cosmological conection between the dogs and people in the shaft became clear.