Arbeia South Shields Roman Fort

Baring Street
South Shields
Tyne and Wear
NE33 2BB

0191 277 1410
Website: http://twmuseums.org.uk

Parent Organisation:
Funded by:

Local authority

YLM Entry Submitted: Yes
Comments:

How many human remains are in its collection, and how many of those are of ancient British provenance, pre-Christian or in other way Pagan?:

37 human remains

One is a British Bronze Age burial (most of the rest are Roman in date, but cannot tell if these are pagan, Christian, or Jew etc)

Total: 37

How many of these human remains are well documented, with clear context of date and place of exhumation?:

26 come from modern excavations and are therefore well-documented; 9 probably come from the Roman cemetery but are from Victorian excavations and are therefore less-well documented; one comes from Egypt, but without further details; one is a medical specimen

Where there are ancestors in store, is there a history of use?:

Yes

Where there are ancestors in store, is there potential for use, in display, education or scientific analysis?

Yes

Does the museum have a disposal policy, and is it including HR with negligible potential in its discussions about disposal?:Yes

What sources of information about these human remains are in the public domain and where?:

Croom, A. T. and Caffell, A. 2005 ‘Human remains from South Shields Roman Fort and its cemetery’, Arbeia J 8, 101-18
Croom, A. T. and Caffell, A. 2010 ‘Further finds and human remains from the cemetery outside South Shields Roman Fort’, Arbeia J, 139-50
Groove, R. 1994 ‘The human remains’, in Bidwell, P. and Speak, S., Excavations at South Shields Roman Fort, volume 1, Newcastle upon Tyne, 268-9
Snape, M. ‘An excavation in the Roman cemetery at South Shields’, Archaeologia Aeliana 5 ser. 22

The remains from the excavations will be published in the excavation reports

The report on the Bronze Age burial is available from our website.

Does the museum have ancestors (human remains) on display?:Yes

The medical specimen is on display in a mock-up of a Roman grave, and is one of the favourite displays in the museum with children
We have seven complete/parts of human remains on display in a single display case looking at the Roman cemetery

The Bronze Age burial is on display within its cist in a different museum, in a section looking at early occupation in the area.

Does the museum hold any iconic ancestors, ie. complete skeletons with a well documented story, or those considered of national or local importance, and are these on display?:

No

Has the museum used or considered using replicas in displays? If not, why not and what would you find useful in moving to these? If you have, what response did these receive?:

There would be no point unless we could get exact replicas made, and this is not a current priority in our limited budget for maintaining/upgrading our displays. The skeleton in the mock-up of a grave could be replaced with a replica, and we will bear this in mind.

Documents:

23 August, 2021