Archaeological Strip, Map and Sample Excavation: Western half of Building P5, GlaxoSmithKline, Priory Street, Ware, Hertfordshire

Between March and September 2015 an archaeological Strip, Map and Sample excavation was carried out at the western half of Building P5, GSK, Priory Street, Ware, Hertfordshire. The site lies within an archaeological rich environment primarily associated with a Romano-British river crossing settlement emanating from Roman Ermine Street which traverses the GSK site to the east, and also the long-established crossing of the Lea, to the south. The excavations revealed a Romano-British cemetery probably dating from the mid 1st to 4th century, and consisting of at least 29 graves with the remains of 23 individuals being preserved. A rubbish pit dating to the late 3rd- 4th century, further Roman pits and post-holes were also excavated. Later activity was found in the form of a post-medieval gully. A number of discrete undated features were also recorded consisting of a gully, a post-hole, and a stake-hole. The suggested phasing for the site is one of several that could be applied to the available evidence, but the relatively low number of graves recorded makes significant statistical analysis problematic. However, regardless of the precise dating of the burials, it appears that there was a mixture of burial traditions represented on the site throughout its use. It could be suggested that the graves are split into two groups, the largest of which consists of those 23 graves orientated approximately east-west, and the remaining 6 graves forming the other group orientated roughly north-south. Whilst these two groups may well represent different traditions, they probably do not represent different phases of the site. The widest date range associated with the north-south graves covers a period from possibly the late Iron Age [067] to the 4th century [007]. This also represents the widest range for the cemetery as a whole. But as Grave [067] is a child's burial and appears to relatively isolated, one possible scenario is that this grave is not associated with the rest of the burials and its location in relation to the others is a coincidence. However, even if this were the case, it would still appear that there was a tolerance of cultural traditions throughout the cemetery's existence. This is further illustrated by the graves all appearing to be simple burials with little evidence of grave goods, but with the exception of SK10, a prime-mature adult, probable female, buried in Grave [034] which had a copper alloy coin in the mouth. The coin, dubbed Charon's Obol or Viaticum, would have been placed in the individual's mouth at the time of burial to pay the ferryman, Charon, to take the deceased across the river dividing the worlds of the living and the dead. Earlier excavations during the construction of the Access Road to the GSK site at Buryfields revealed another cemetery c. 170m to the east of P5. It consisted of 15 grave cuts with 13 articulated skeletons, and was found to date from the 3rd-4th century. A further 2 graves were also found immediately south of this in the area close to the existing security check at the main entrance (Walker 1995; Zeepvat & Walker 1997). The extent of both these cemeteries was not fully determined as the areas affected by the respective developments were limited. However, there were some notable similarities and differences recorded between the two relatively small assemblages. Both P5 and Buryfields cemeteries displayed evidence of poor bone preservation, and in both the inhumations were supine and extended in their body positioning. The Buryfields cemetery commonly favoured the positioning of the forearms crossing over the abdomen, whilst the P5 cemetery, had more variation of positioning with arms extended to the sides, arms over the pelvis or one arm extended whilst the other arm flexed over the pelvis. In both groups grave orientation consisted of two groups; mainly roughly east-west with a few roughly north-south.