NOTE : THIS FEATURE IS VOID BT 06/06/09
Burial cut in NW corner of space 258 cut by burial cut 12300 to the west and 10367 to the east. Contained one, possibly two, neonate burials 10389sk and 10368sk. Both skeletons were incomplete and heavily disturbed by late truncation and by an animal burow. It is possible that these are two separate burials, however, this was not clear during excavation.
This is part of a series of neonate and infant burials within this space, and the following is an extract from the Archive Report 2005 that explains all the ineterments in relation to each other:
"These [burials] were investigated and proved to be the remains of many infantile skeletons buried under the floors close to the northern and southern walls. The burial F.2020 by the southern wall contained the bones of three neonates. The last one buried (10361) was lying on its left side in a crouched position. The definition of the burial cuts was not clear but it appears that (10361) was interred at the same time as the skeleton underneath (10370) with a third skeleton (10391) buried slightly earlier. By the northern wall two clearly defined burial cuts contained a single neonatal skeleton each. The eastern of these was F.2027 contained skeleton (10366) lying on its front with legs splayed. The western was F.2038 containing skeleton
(10390) lying on its back. Underneath these two burials were two further neonates; the upper of these skeletons (10368) had been badly disturbed by rodent activity. This burial may have been placed in the same cut as skeleton (10389) but it is difficult to be sure. Overall, Space 258 contained four neonates buried against the northern wall and three against the southern. As with the thick plastering around the walls in Space 227, the number of neonatal burials in the side room could be an indication of the length of time that the building remained in use." |
