Details of 'unusual' Roman burial ritual revealed by 3D scans

[Still Waters]

Archaeologists at the University of York said cutting-edge technology had allowed them to examine in "stunning" clarity the grave of a British family who died nearly 2,000 years ago.

Liquid gypsum - a mineral used to make types of cement and plaster - had been poured over the bodies before burial.

As the gypsum hardened, it formed a cast of the dead and their clothing.

Archaeologists do not fully understand why some Romans poured the mineral into coffins, but the practice preserves evidence of materials that would not otherwise have survived.

York's researchers were the first in the world to study such graves with 3D scanning, according to the university.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-york-north-yorkshire-65789725

[+and-then]

Interesting!  I'd never heard of this tradition before.

[Piney]

7 hours ago, and-then said:

Interesting!  I'd never heard of this tradition before.

Mummification was sometimes practiced in Britain all the way back to the Beaker Folk. But the climate and soil still doesn't allow much preservation even then