2-913-790 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Stone Coffins, found at Bath, 1854. Discovery of human remains in Somerset. 'In the first coffin was found a skeleton of large size; in the next, two skulls, with various bones; the small coffin contained no skull, but loose bones. [Also found were] part of an infant's jaw; a metal pin, nearly two inches in length, but much corroded...portions of two small animals, and a considerable quantity of a peculiar bituminous substance. In the neighbourhood of the coffin were discovered some fragments of an earthen vessel, a coin of Constantine, several pieces of glass of a beautiful purple-green hue, with various bones of graminivorous animals. As far as could be made out by examination of the human bones, they form part of eight skeletons - three being those of children of about the ages of two, six, and ten or twelve; the remaining five skeletons are those of adults'. From "Illustrated London News", 1854.