Excavation of the cemetery at Vagnari continued in 2012 under the direction of Tracy Prowse. The cemetery is located on the southern part of the site, separated by a small ravine from the settlement area where the University of Sheffield team was excavating this past season under the direction of Maureen Carroll (see above). Excavation of the site has been underway since 2001, and an edited volume on the settlement excavations has been published recently (Small, Reference Small2011).

Two trenches exposed in the 2011 field season (Trenches 59 and 69) were reopened this year to excavate five previously exposed burials, and a new trench (79) was opened immediately to the west of Trench 69. The number and density of burials was lower in Trench 79 (five), possibly indicating the western limit of the cemetery, as the trench to the north of Trench 79 also contained fewer burials when it was excavated in 2004. Ten tombs were excavated in the three trenches, bringing the total number of burials excavated to date in the Vagnari cemetery to 98 in an area of approximately 30 m (east–west) × 15 m (north–south).

Seven of the tombs excavated this year were ‘a cappuccina’, consisting of the deceased buried in a shallow grave and covered by a series of tegulae in an inverted ‘V’ shape. Two tile burials contained the remains of infants, and the final burial was a simple pit without any burial covering. The grave-goods recovered from the burials are similar to those found in previous years, consisting mainly of ceramic vessels (sometimes broken), iron nails, small glass vessels and objects of personal adornment. Some of the ceramic vessels appear to have been broken intentionally prior to deposition, while others were found intact. Only one of the burials excavated in 2012 contained a coin (bronze). This burial, F294, contained a large number of grave-goods found in association with the skeleton, including the bronze coin, a stamped ceramic oil lamp (‘AVFRRON’), two glass vessels and two ceramic vessels, with hobnails deposited around the feet indicating that the deceased was buried with footwear. The lamp dates to the second century ad, which is consistent with the dates for the majority of tombs excavated in the cemetery (40), while a smaller number of burials in the cemetery dates to the third (twelve) and fourth centuries ad (two). Twenty of the burials cannot be assigned a specific date, and the grave-goods from the 2012 burials are being studied currently.

One noteworthy tomb excavated in Trench 69 was an a cappuccina burial (F286) containing two individuals who were interred with their heads at opposite ends of the burial (Fig. 1). The position and association of the skeletons suggest that one individual was originally deposited in the burial, and was subsequently moved to make space for the second individual, who was buried shortly after the primary deposition. One of the questions to be investigated through stable isotope and molecular (aDNA) analysis is the possible familial relationship of these two individuals. Ongoing bioarchaeological analysis of the skeletal material recovered from the cemetery is investigating diet, health and disease in this rural Roman population.

Fig. 1. A cappuccina burial F286 with two interments (with the heads at opposite ends of the burial).