Last week archaeologists from Manchester University Archaeo-logical Unit, working on a site to the south of Lancaster city centre, unearthed a fine example of a tombstone of a Roman cavalry soldier.
The Manchester team had won the 'dig' contract in a tendering process for the site, which is adjacent to the road which led from the south to the Roman fort on Castle Hill.
Urns
Over the years, a considerable amount of cemetery material has come from this general area.
It was normal practice in Roman times for burials and cremation-urns to be put to rest beside the roads leading from settlements.
Two-thirds of this tombstone is taken up by a sculptured relief of a cavalryman riding down an enemy.
This particular example, however, is notable for the generally high quality of the sculpture, and also for one particular feature.
The horseman is shown holding not only his short sword but also his adversary's head, which he has just severed. The enemy is shown kneeling on the ground, headless, and still holding his sword.
Historian, Professor David Shotter, recently retired from Lancaster University, told The Visitor: "Such a decapitation scene is very rare on similar tombstones from Roman Britain, and is particularly significant because we are told in the accompanying inscription that this Roman soldier came from Trier (in Germany] and was, therefore, presumably a Celt.
"Celtic people traditionally believed that, by decapitating an enemy, the perpetrator would absorb the dead person's mental and physical powers.
"It was common in western Europe in late pre-history for the doorposts of Celtic temples to be adorned with niches containing severed heads.
"The date of the stone is not given, but for a number of reasons, it is thought to have belonged to the later years of the first century AD."
The stone is currently in the Lancashire Museum in Preston but it is hoped it may end up being displayed at Lancaster.