A black woman who lived in Britannia in Roman times "a lady of ivory bracelet"

Roman EmpireSpeaking of ancient Roman civilizationLatinAnd CaesarGaara's war historyRecord remains inGaulians·GermanicAlthough it tends to embrace the image of a society centered on white people, such as white, the vast empire with the whole region of the Mediterranean coast as a version,Aeeguptus(Now Egypt) toMauretania(Now Morocco) to include the northern African region, there are also many African populations, and it seems that there were many people who moved out of Africa and emigrated to the present Europe and the Middle East in the Empire.

It corresponds to the current southern part of EnglandBritanniaAlthough it is a place that can be said as a remote side at the northern end of the Roman Empire,A provinceSince then, there was a time when it became a Romanized society where multiple ethnic groups, multiple racial and multicultural coexist.

yokeIt was excavated at the Roman ruins inIvory Bangle Lady (lady of bracelet of ivory)The existence of a woman called "Proof that African people lived in Britain Island at that time proved that some people were very wealthy and social status was high.

Details are as below.Analysis of Roman grave reveals that York was a multicultural society - Times Online

The sarcophagus of "ivory bracelet lady" originally originated in the center of York CityBoothamIt was unearthed in 1901 in the district, but the latest scientific examination identified this woman as a young black woman belonging to York's upstream society in the 4th century.

At that time YorkEboracumIt was called the fortified city founded by the Romans in 71 years after AD. The fact that the coffin is made of stone itself is also a symbol of wealth in the Roman era Britannia, but also the burial items are rich in ivory bracelets, perfume bottles, mirrors, jewels, etc. Women are definitely wealthy, the upper class of the time It means that it belonged to.

The head of a "lady of ivory bracelet". Analysis of the isotopes contained in the teeth revealed that the water that women drink during childhood includes minerals common in North Africa and from the measurement of the shape of the skull women are black or I know that it was a mixed-blood of blacks and other people.


The woman has a height of 150 cm and the age at the time of death is 18 to 23 years old, and there is no evidence that it was accidental death or violent death. Also, from the traces of muscles, I have not sent a life to move my body by physical labor, etc., and it is suggested that I was wealthy.

A portrait of a woman restored by computer based on the excavated skeleton. It is quite a strong-looking face.


Among the burial items, bones engraved as "Sor ave vivas in Deo" (including sisters) are included, and it seems likely that women were Christianity.

jet(Black ball) bracelet probablyNorth Yorkshire·WhitbyIt is a product, indicating that the woman had a connection to the local trade as well. Ivory bracelets are unusual things rarely seen in Roman Britannia, so it may be that they brought it home as a reminder of home Africa.


I led the surveyUniversity of ReadingDr. Hella Eckardt, archaeologist Dr. Hella Eckardt said, "The multicultural Britain is not a beginning for now, the existence of" ladies of ivory bracelets "and people resembling her is a population of Britain Island in Roman times The hypothesis about the composition and the immigrants from Africa overturn the belief that only men of low rank have slaves. " "The connection between Africans and slavery is born in modern times, there were all races and races in Roman times slaves"

By the inscriptions of the Roman era, we know that many of the Africans at that time were soldiers of the Roman Empire. But recent research on multiple skeletons has revealed that many African men moved to Britannia with the Roman army and brought wives and children.

Dr. Eckardt said: "The population at the time was much closer to the contemporary British than it had been thought - as far as York is concerned, the Roman population may have been more diverse than it is now I am telling you.