Fulwell Quarries, inhumation

HER Number:
399

District:
Sunderland

Site Name:
Fulwell Quarries, inhumation

Place:
Fulwell

Map Sheet:
NZ35NE

Class:
Religious Ritual and Funerary

Site Type: Broad:
Burial

Site Type: Specific:
Inhumation

General Period:
Roman

Specific Period:

Form of Evidence:
Find

Description:
In 1759, during limestone quarrying, "a ridge of limestone and rubbage" (sic) was removed. "In the middle of this bank was found the skeleton of a human body, which measured nine feet six inches in length, the shin-bone measuring two feet three inches from the knee to the ancle (sic)". The skeleton was protected by "four large flat stones", which could be interpreted as a prehistoric cist burial or a Roman grave inserted in a prehistoric mound. Two Roman coins were found on the south side of the skeleton, near the right hand. It has been argued that the description of the skeleton is detailed enough to be true, and that he was therefore one of the biggest men ever found. The coins suggest he had probably been inserted into an earlier cairn not before the beginning of the 3rd century AD.

Easting:
38

Northing:
59

Grid Reference:
NZ3859

Lats/Lons:

Sources:
<< HER 399 >> P. Collinson, 1763, Gentleman's Magazine, Vol. XXXIII, p. 492 (Oct. 1763) J. Sykes, 1866, Local Records, Vol. I, p. 221 Ordnance Survey archaeological record cards, 1952 linear mound...containing a cist burial... H.G. Welfare, 1980, Fulwell Giant, Northern Archaeology, Vol. 1 Part 1, pp. 22-25