What Can Two Ancient Skeletons Tell Us About Roman London?

'The Skeletons Of Two Roman Londoners Tell A Fascinating Story!'
Today it is one of the greatest cities on earth. But London, originally, was a Roman city. Follow Dr Simon Elliott and Dr Rebecca Redfern as they uncover the magnitude of information a skeleton can tell us about Romans and their lifestyle.
Watch the full documentary here: access.historyhit.com/life-an...
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[@BobbyJ2002]

I believe it would be great if this scientist had a weekly blog by taking a recent discovery and explaining what the remains tell her. I would certainly watch!

[@moocowdad]

she was amazing would love to spend hours talking to her about history, great vid

[@randomvintagefilm273]

Right, so you would like to talk about dead people all day?

[@ramoncanham9751]

@@randomvintagefilm273 I know what id like to do with her and it wouldn't be talking about dead people lol

[@sentimentalbloke185]

@@ramoncanham9751 aye aye

[@jjhantsch8647]

@@randomvintagefilm273 I hate the living.

[@harry-thepug76]

@@ramoncanham9751 😊 I Agree with you 💯❗😄

[@gooner72]

"What did the Romans ever do for us?"...... "Errrrrmmm.... education, sanitation, aqueducts." What a great film that was......

[@dan13ljks0n]

LOL!

[@nickjung7394]

Invasion, rape, pillage, occupation, stealing of resources, enslavement and colonisation!

[@whoarewe7515]

@@nickjung7394 that was all happening before the Romans.

[@nickjung7394]

@@whoarewe7515 i don't understand your point. Given the current persecution of the British over the Empire and the demand for "apologies and reparations" it is clear that African mercenaries assisted the Romans in the invasion and enslavement of the people of the British Isles. Slavery was not a feature of ancient British culture, it was most certainly a feature of the Roman/African culture that was imposed on the British!

[@whoarewe7515]

@@nickjung7394 there is no point for as long as people tribes of native counties they have been taking people prisoner raping murdering and all the things you mentioned

[@davidchurch3472]

Rebecca is wonderful - please can we see much more? absolutely fascinated

[@garethjudd5840]

If this was the BBC's Horrible Histories all the skeletons would be from sub Saharan Africa.

[@youcantfightme8282]

Just shut up for once! Keep your racism to yourself!

[@pauldirac808]

Very astute sir . Bravo 👏🏻👏🏻

[@davidwhelan1545]

🤣🤣🤣

[@catharperfect7036]

They would've been LGBT somehow as well.

[@sophiajane]

Such a lovely enthusiastic lady. Makes history fascinating. She's lovely

[@1adam123]

Just stumbled across this channel, what a treat. If only all hosts and guests could be this friendly.

[@avril4421]

I really enjoy this program. The young woman is charming, very well educated and passionate about in her subject

[@bigbasil1908]

If some people were buried still wearing shackles, I think that suggests that they were considered dangerous people even in their afterlife

[@aaron6178]

In some traditions, it was to prevent the dead from 'walking' amongst the living as malevolent spirits. Along the vein of the Transylvanian vampire tradition in the middle ages where various methods to keep the body and soul together in the earth. Rocks or stakes on the chest etc.

[@penguinista]

That was my thought too, especially if the shackles are expensive.

[@robertsole9970]

Yes. The people that removed the shackles will now be a target of the freed spirits….

[@jackvoss5841]

I would guess that the only reason to bury a shackled person is that they were still alive and resisting, ehh? Just think bit. Courtesy of Half Vast Flying

[@michaelbrownlee9497]

@@jackvoss5841 or they died, and were rotting, which leads to speculation of what happened to the prison keepers. They were buried, which is a custom of preserving the body for the afterlife, someone cared about not spreading disease, they didnt cremate her which is how some cultures deal with burials and that someone wasnt interested in preserving human bondage instruments. She may of been a prison keeper as well, buried alive as you suggested. They recently dug up graves elsewhere, i think it was pompei, with chains still on as well. Sad stuff.

[@alicethompson1385]

I absolutely love watching this sort of stuff, I find it totally amazing that people use to walk all those years ago where we walk now!!

[@StevenKeery]

Alice Thompson: You can see it better in Chester. The Roman street level was about twenty feet lower than present day levels. Lots of Roman ruins there and excavations showing how the Romans lived, their central heating etc. Just outside the town is a mass grave where plague victims were buried. Royalist soldiers from the English Civil war, are also buried in the graveyard. Outside the graveyard is a monument to a Protestant Martyr, burned at the stake for his faith. Chester is well worth a visit.

[@alicethompson1385]

Yeah I will!

[@boosadie9]

She is a natural teacher. I really loved this video. Thanks for posting it.

[@kariannecrysler640]

Love the passion for her work and the history!! Wonderful presentation thank you.💚

[@Jennylouise87]

I adore this woman! She is so intelligent and so passionate. You can tell she loves what she does! She is loving the dream in my opinion. I too absolutely love history and just go nuts talking and reading and learning about it!

[@StevenKeery]

An interesting video. I lived in Chester for a time, it is another Roman City. I noticed on one of my walks that the wall had been repaired in places, by Roman grave stones. At the time I thought it disrespectful to the deceased. Your mention of finding skeletons wearing shackles, can really only lead to one conclusion. Iron was a valuable resource so the iron would have been removed prior to burial, unless the corpse had died of some disease that was contagious, that might have deterred someone from remaining in the company of the corpse for too long, or of touching it. Something like leprosy perhaps, or plague. The slave owner might not have wanted to reuse the shackles and risk spreading the disease to another slave. Slaves cost money after all. If the corpse had been buried alive for some reason, I would have thought the iron shackles would have been replaced by cheaper rope. So disease seems the more obvious answer.

[@nigelsheppard625]

Generally enslaved peoples in the Roman Empire after the middle of the first century, were generationally enslaved, therefore they were born and traded. They had an ascribed status. It is far more likely that someone buried and shackled were something else. Criminals were shackled and thrown on rubbish dumps. Slaves were usually buried i. Slave cemeteries.

[@deanlawrence3881]

Wow, the description was true, that was ABSOLUTELY Fascinating! I could listen to her all night! Brilliant post.

[@terryhughes7349]

Very intelligent host and guest. Amazing what we can learn with such old human remains. I wonder if burial in shackles is a type of curse (like buried in shackles will make you a slave in the afterlife).

[@penguinista]

That is a very interesting thought. Better hope you don't get buried by your enemies in a culture that believes that how the body is treated is vital for the afterlife!

[@laurencefox5884]

@@penguinista Like America?

[@GavTatu]

who'd want to bury a perfectly good pair of shackles ?

[@garypautard1069]

I am not sure whether this is a possible theory but I know at one time superstitious people were worried about the walking dead and vampires, and several tools were used to combat this . One way was the classic metal stake through the breast and another was decapitation and I wonder were metal shackles used.

[@laurencefox5884]

@@garypautard1069 you have the same effect now with migrants…except that superstitious tools used to defend people are slogans and flags.

[@charliesmith_]

My first thought. The value of the reuseable metal being more than the value of a slave. The existence of a shakle is a Statement. "Never leave me again my love/ you slept around too much/you are a political murderer/your innocent virtue will rest unviolated...." my mind is instantly drawn back to the curses of others' scratched on lead and thrown into Minerva's pool at what is now the Roman Baths [in Bath, UK.] Some of those /expensive lead_ scratched curses were ablaze with *real raging vitriol*, even just for stealing a comb! _Fascinating._

[@jingle9691]

Another brilliant video

[@rebekahdavis5935]

They may not have been slaves but criminals or people who scared the community. I really wish they would remake these finds WITH their jewelry and things so that we could actually see how they looked in the face and at burial.

[@Raycheetah]

Depending on the Roman view of the afterlife in a given period, burying them with shackles might be seen as a way of perpetuating their status (slave or criminal) beyond death. ='[.]'=

[@TS-bn7zt]

So very interesting, many thanks.

[@jonhelmer8591]

Absolutely fascinating, although I was a bit disappointed Dr. Redfern didn't say anything about her years working with Scooby Doo.

[@michaelbrownlee9497]

Welma.....hehehehe.

[@edwardsisson3580]

Rut Roh

[@caspaabriel4794]

Really fascinating. Great video.

[@LM-pm2ir]

Very Interesting and informative

[@lastdays9163]

Such a cool video...more of this please!

[@randomvintagefilm273]

It is kind of creepy to be walking in a place like London, knowing how many dead people are right under your feet.

[@haroldmerewether1224]

And walking amongst you

[@thomas261989]

This is not unique. The same things can be said for any metropolis in the world.

[@garysmith3173]

Another wonderful presentation,thank you.

[@ChristophersMum]

Quite fascinating...enjoyed it so subscribed...and hit the all bell.

[@markshrimpton3138]

The person was almost certainly of North African origin, not sub-Saharan.

[@dustingreen9075]

Yes, most of North Africa in the early 400s had been part of Rome for almost 300 years.

[@josm1206]

The black nationalists in the US continually ignore North Africa as being Africa, and always populated by people of Arab/Levant/European descent, and try to claim the African troops, governors and emporers were black. But of course, they weren't.

[@sammydasilva6152]

Yepe the majority of Africans who lived in Rome and its provinces were North Africans and not black. However, the woke and leftist scholars are obsessed with forcing SSAs into Roman Britain and proving the noncase that Britain and Europe were filled with black Africans. There were black Africans in Rome but they were a small minority. Here's the thing, North Africans are too Caucasiod and not black enough for the taste of the woke scholars. Therefore this scholar was tap dancing talking confusing stuff about the ancestry and origin of the found human remains. You have to take everything these liberal scholars say about DNA or ancestry with a grain of salt.

[@accountretired9479]

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@gyllenspetzfamily7993]

Lol, have you ever heard of Carthage it's in North Africa? And this person was from Africa before Islam massacred north Africa. He might have looked like any number of humans. Quit it with the colorism.

[@fliconmigo]

The host was very engaging and explained things so well!

[@maggiemitchell4359]

Incredible the amount of informationthat can be found from a few bones.

[@24flyingcats84]

I've been prescribed codeine for a tooth abscess, so we still take opiates for tooth pain now- as well as for other infections.

[@tillymynt9054]

True

[@kathyh4804]

Quite interesting, thank you so much 🌹

[@stevenoels2757]

Really great explanation and lots of detail and facts revealed.

[@DuncanNairn]

Great chat but you might want to turn down his lav mic.

[@Radio4ManLeics]

What a fascinating woman! I could listen to her all day!

[@vixtex]

Roman London appears to have been a fascinating place.

[@BuzzSargent]

So much information from just a few old bones and teeth. Good work.

[@bakenumber4]

I enjoy this program.. thank you.

[@JonseyWales]

Determination of 'ancestry' from cranial measurements (Fordisc) has been widely critised. Especially with regard to partial Crania. Eg: "A 2009 study found that FORDISC 3.0 "is only likely to be useful when an unidentified specimen is more or less complete and belongs to one of the populations represented in its reference samples", and even in such "favorable circumstances it can be expected to classify no more than 1 per cent of specimens with confidence."

[@accountretired9479]

🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@richiec9077]

Very true I just watched Simon Webb talk about this

[@dhoraray1310]

@@accountretired9479 one never knows anything for sure

[@thetr00per30]

SHHHHH!! You are ruining their fantasy history

[@rogueredshirt5239]

Good thing they had the pelvis!

[@olliedelmastro3301]

Is it just me or was the dude breathing really loudly into his lav the entire time?

[@alisonbolt7147]

Loved this film. Thanks very much.

[@davidmunro1469]

You can not hide this lady,s beauty with glasses .

[@king_cobra5492]

Interesting. Thanks

[@Tysto]

Imagine how much more we would know if every person had written a bit about their daily lives. Or even if it was a habit to bury the dead with a little gravestone implanted in the body cavity: their name, occupation, and age forever attached to their bones.

[@dean828]

The female skeleton shows she may have been an early Saxon that came to Britain in the late 4th/early 5th century A.D. - the first wave of what became the "English" people.

[@Andyroe591]

Great video! His breathing is very loud though

[@Torgo-and-the-Lucifer-Cat]

The skeletons would say, "on the whole, I'd rather be in kensington".

[@pattskatoey3139]

Rebecca is gorgeous. I could listen to her voice all day.

[@glorygloryholeallelujah]

If my spine is fused together, I’m riddled with painful swelling and various arthritis, plus my teeth are worn down to the pulp…You’re gd right I’m gunna be sipping on some poppy syrup!!🤣

[@melly9037]

Amazing 👏

[@Cutter-jx3xj]

That young and myself would get along great. I could listen to her for hrs

[@gabrieli4734]

Dr. Redfern just opened a window to an ancient past..of Romans living in London...with such clarity ....invaders who did not end well ...and brushing their teeth with dog poo??? Dr Redfern... you are amazing....love the details....

[@smithy280663]

totally fascinating......

[@Deb2252]

Very interesting.

[@desdicadoric]

Very interesting

[@jacobandrew4168]

Great video, shame the camera man was eating the microphone the whole time.

[@pauljermyn5909]

Brilliant

[@canopus101]

In my, very humble, opinion the Roman Empire would not take the trouble to bury slaves in limited grave sites complete with their fetters. Why waste a valuable crafted piece of metal? My view that this was a ritualistic thing. Who knows what it was 16 centuries later but I would think a more likely explanation was to chin him, or her, as they were a nasty piece of work when they were living.

[@kevinh.2244]

could hear nothing but that guy breathing into the mic for 15 minutes

[@richbrice3299]

Dr Rebecca needs her own show!

[@nick63837]

I love videos like this!!/Awesome !!very interesting!

[@hannahhancock1185]

Very informative video, but it would have been much better if I couldn't hear the man breathing in his mic the whole time 😑🥴

[@stephenlight647]

Fascinating.

[@Linlateal1990]

Fascinating!

[@PerryCJamesUK]

I read this wrong. I saw "The Skeletons of the Two Ronnies" for some bizarre reason. I need glasses.

[@Rusty_Gold85]

That vision of the edge of the Thames would be more than 100m back from the present day water edge under buildings by now

[@michaelwhisman7623]

So much for RIP.

[@somethindarker]

This is very interesting, I did a shoot at a museum and we were talking with 2 historians one male and one female, we were discussing the Byzantine Empire's religious and sociological culture on war, marriage, death etc; When we were talking about killing, executions, death the male historian would excitedly discussing every detail with us not sparing any detail much to our amusement while the female historian was kinda glossing over details and seemed uncomfortable discussing the same subject. This interview kinda reminded me of that how the interviewer was fascinated about the gross details of death and the female historian was uncomfortable and kinda skirting around the details.

[@Gillby47]

As I expected they could tell what sex these skeletons are even after so many hundreds of years.

[@davehoward22]

The towton and visby skeletons,or the beheaded vikings in suffolk are fascinating

[@davehoward22]

sorry...weymouth

[@ishouldbesleeping1354]

Not Paget’s disease in what she describes as a melted spine area ( the fused 12:35 bone case. ) I’d guess more like Ankylosing Spondylosis.

[@stevejohnson3357]

In cases where the vertebrae are fused you can end up like Richard III (different condition in his case) but you only have pain during the inflammatory phase. You will never look like an Olympic gymnast but you can be functional.

[@dac545j]

Constructive criticism: the camera-person is breathing through his mouth in bursts and this is "in our ear", so to speak.

[@scottg44]

I’m sure one of my old school teachers brushed their teeth with dog poo. Always wondered how they got their breath to smell like that?

[@MrTangolizard]

Also when she says North Africa I believe they were mostly Macedonians and Greeks etc not the Arabs of today

[@josm1206]

The Arab conquest came later. I believe they were Greek and Phoenicians.

[@MrTangolizard]

@@josm1206 that’s what I said

[@josm1206]

@@MrTangolizard you did. But I was simply adding the Phoenicians. Carthage etc was a Phoenician city.

[@MrTangolizard]

@@josm1206 ok fair enough ,

[@aquelpibe]

What makes you think so? Neither country is in Africa.

[@chris.asi_romeo]

Imagine being dead thousand years ago and then thousand years later your grave being analyze by scientists.

[@jimmyyorkshire4495]

Thumbnail - Great Dentists.

[@johodgson2449]

Excellent presentation and information from Rebecca, but it was spoiled a bit by the breathing noises from Simon - sorry to mention this.

[@kimchunchu3556]

My father in law was Welsh and he got Paget's

[@peterhoughton3770]

Fascinating - So is there a general or specific museum in London dedicated period, and or the period prior to the Roman invasion?

[@ray.shoesmith]

I could listen to Dr Rebecca for hours. She's gorgeous too.

[@piveteau1]

Hey Phil, how’s your little brother? 😀😀😀

[@user-pt1cz4ot1e]

I think we should all appreciate not being born in Roman times….no matter how difficult that can be.

[@hlmoore8042]

One of the things I AM grateful for - toilet paper.

[@edwardsisson3580]

@@hlmoore8042 I repair paper machines. You're welcome.

[@chickey333]

It could be that the Romans of the time thought the very same thing about their predecessors... and, of course, wondering just when the toilet paper would be showing up.

[@manfredrichthofen2494]

The Ancient Romans used Sponge.. harvested from the Sea, which they used for " toilet paper",🗞️washed them after every use , ready for the next application.. Ever wondered why the Roman soldiers had sponge mentioned during The Christ's crucifixion ?

[@baltichammer6162]

@@manfredrichthofen2494 That is interesting. Its never occurred to me to question...why was a sponge on a stick at the crucifixion site? The most logical reasons would be: sponge was used for giving liquid to the people being crucified as a simple act of kindness. Or somebody went to get the sponge on a stick as a final act of contempt and belittlement. I vote for option #2 as most likely. That's incredible to contemplate but the actions fit the motive at that place and time.

[@philipking8497]

If this painting is accurate, You can actually see the A1 heading North and maybe a right towards Colchester and Felixstow. The A2 heading South East towards what would later become Dover, and last the A3 heading down to Portchester. Exactly where an invasion may come from, Fascinating.

[@chriswren1825]

Classicist here. Fantastic interview! Knowledgeable. Great questions. A great listen. Thank you.

[@kristiskinner8542]

Opioid syrup for toothaches sounds fine to me, especially when dental pain can be some of the worse pain there is. All of this under treatment of pain due to others abusing those types of substances is exactly what lead to this "epidemic" in the 1st place (under treatment lead to oxycontin being over prescribed & doctors not tapering patients as they shoud always do. And abuse & a opioid/opiate epidemic is nothing new & was the reason for the creation of drug scheduling/drug laws). Not to mention there is NOTHING over the counter that helps with pain. Taking a Tic Tac gives the same result as they do, they just taste better if it doesnt go down the first try.

[@brianwinters5434]

I have read original latin souces after 50 from high school I can still read latin that the romans used poopy syropp to relieve pain but knew it was addictive.

[@StevenKeery]

Kristi Skinner: Aspirin, Paracetamol; Ibuprofen; Cocodamol, Codeine. Anything stronger requires a prescription from a doctor. For mild to moderate pain the over-the-counter medicines are fine.

[@haroldmerewether1224]

Can you do a video on Southampton bargate?

[@phoule76]

ha, some call it covering up a murder, others call it a clandestine burial

[@elisabeth6108]

By law people had to be buried outside the city walls. So it was more likely that families didn't want to have a loved one so far away or couldn't afford a proper burial. Although undoubtedly some were foul play! The Romans were a rough lot.

[@scottg44]

What’s so strange about taking opiates for toothache?? We take co-codamal today

[@saltyaussie9482]

Opium has been used in the ancient world for thousands of years, even the Egyptians used it plus the Greeks, Romans middle eastern people. .

[@ammurra1987]

Why is the title not with Dr Rebecca Redfern? She’s the one who has all the information and is telling us everything. She’s very knowledgeable. Would love to hear more from her!

[@hetrodoxly1203]

It's impossible to tell someone's race from their jawbone, she's preaching pseudoscience.

[@schwatzy6362]

Interesting. She mentioned that body parts were found in many different places like ditches, down a well etc. Being "drawn and quartered" comes to mind. They may even have parts of that Big Scot, William Wallace? Everyone ends up somewhere...

[@douglasherron7534]

When she starts on her "London was very diverse" spiel at the end she completely fails to mention that you can tell where someone grew up from the isotopes locked in the tooth enamel. Rather than dancing about that they were "of African descent" (aren't we all - based on the 'Out of Africa' theory), but their DNA is redolent of modern people from across Europe and North Africa (i.e. not Sub-Saharan Africa), she could have just stated the tooth isotopes say they grew up in X place.

[@mattcollins4646]

Yup, strontium.

[@lenabreijer1311]

They might be second generation so Britain is where they grew up. And still have complete African DNA .

[@damo5701]

I began to lose trust in her credibility at the "London was very diverse" spiel, she is technically very capable and obviously very knowledgeable on her technical subject matter, but, I began to doubt her ability to unbiasedly put all the pieces into place. I thought using facial bone structure in modern humans to determine race went out the door with the nazis, and she already had dna evidence that the remains were not African or at least not what the common man would call African. Let's not forget there are many hundreds if not tens of thousands of remains from the Roman Period, some of which she also mentioned, but she brought along the remains of this individual to make vague claims of Diversity. Which seemed to be the narrative she, or perhaps the filmmaker's (she did seem embarrassed a bit uncomfortable at this point), wanted to make from the beginning. If London was indeed as diverse as claimed then I would expect some sort of statistical study or evidence to back up the claim; nothing except one individual data point was provided; and that didn't conclusively prove her point.

[@lenabreijer1311]

@@damo5701 your bigotry does not invalidate the known facts, nor her expertise.

[@damo5701]

@@lenabreijer1311 Sticks and stones mate, call me all the names you like, it's not a valid argument, nor does it change the fact she misrepresented the situation. Can't help you if you're too stupid to understand what was discussed or that it goes against your ideology.

[@philipking8497]

There is a country that I do admire on the Northern Coastline of Africa. I'm going there now.

[@hypsyzygy506]

Why would a slave be buried with usable shackles? Wouldn't it make more sense to shackle, or at least tie up, the body of an executed criminal or evil person, to prevent their spirit from 'walking' with evil intent?

[@scottd9448]

It would be so fascinating to spend some time talking with Dr. Rebecca Redfern. More carbon than poo for the toothpaste surely?

[@paulbarthol8372]

Does the ankle bones of the shackled burials show long term wear of the restraints, or could be the shackles symbolic?

[@vivette8944]

She has lovely hair.🦋🦋

[@sands7779]

interesting analysis of how people were buried in Roman London with Dr Rebecca Redfern and ,Dr Simon Elliott. Shackles might indicate either prisoner or slave.

[@taraeldred8814]

Love her so clever and yet scatty and funny 😄

[@winterlighthome]

I wish this scientist had her own channel and posted regularly.

[@simonframpton7090]

Amazing how you can find out how people lived by their DNA.😜🤧😦😷

[@deathdealer2771]

How DNA has come so far to help not only detectives; but archeologists to guide us into the lives of are ancestors.