Inhumation Rites in Late Roman Britain: The Treatment of the Engendered Body

Abstract

Keegan's analysis, a dissertation, of the ways in which the Roman emphasis on gender roles affected the burial of both sexes is based on data from four cemeteries which were all in use during the late 3rd and 4th centuries AD: Lankhills cemetery in Winchester, Butt Road cemetery in Colchester, Poundbury cemetery in Dorchester and Bath Gate cemetery in Cirencester. In what is largely a theoretical study, Keegan presents models for analysing data such as artefacts and grave and skeleton postion. Keegan also asks what is it that engenders a sexless skeleton ad what defines a person as male or female.