Шотландын Инвереск дахь Ромын цайзын ойролцоогоос олдсон эртний хүний гавлын ясанд тулгуурлан мэргэжилтнүүд түүний төрхийг дижитал хэлбэрээр дахин бүтээв.
National Museums Scotland-ийн судлаачид болон шүүх эмнэлгийн антропологич Кристофер Ринн нар 142-165 оны хооронд амьдарч байсан, ойролцоогоор 50 настай эрэгтэйн гавлын ясыг ашиглан түүний нүүр царайг тодорхойлжээ. Шинжилгээгээр тухайн эрэгтэйг Ромын армид ажиллаж байх үедээ нас барсан гэж үзэж байгаа ч түүний баруун тохойн гэмтэл нь түүнийг сэлэм барих боломжгүй байсныг илтгэж байна. Энэ нь түүнийг фронтын байлдагч бус, бичиг хэргийн ажилтан эсвэл өөр төрлийн алба хаагч байсан байж болзошгүй гэсэн таамаглалыг төрүүлж байна.
Изотопын шинжилгээгээр уг эрэгтэйг Британийн өмнөд хэсэгт өсөж торнисон болохыг тогтоосон ч түүнийг яагаад толгойг нь авч оршуулсан нь тодорхойгүй хэвээр байна. Инвереск орчмоос олдсон Ромын үеийн зургаан булшны дөрөвт нь ижил төстэй толгойгүй оршуулга илэрсэн нь энэ нь тухайн үеийн зан үйл байж болзошгүйг харуулж байна. Судлаач Жон Х.Ридийн тайлбарласнаар, энэ нь ял шийтгэл бус, харин хүндэтгэлтэйгээр үйлдсэн оршуулгын зан үйл байх магадлалтай юм.
Шотландын хөрсөнд хүний яс сайн хадгалагддаггүй тул Ромын үеийн ийм олдвор нь археологийн хувьд ховор тохиолдолд тооцогддог. Уг эрэгтэйн бие махбодын шинжилгээгээр түүнийг амьдралынхаа туршид хамар хугарах зэрэг бэртэл авч байсныг тогтоосон байна. Одоогийн байдлаар түүнийг яг хаанаас гаралтай болон ямар шалтгаанаар толгойгүй оршуулсантай холбоотой нарийвчилсан судалгаа үргэлжилж байна.
Дэлгэрэнгүйг эх сурвалжаас харах
↓Эх сурвалжийг нээх ↓
Researchers have digitally rebuilt the face of a man who was beheaded after death and buried near a Roman fort in Scotland almost 2,000 years ago. Chemical analysis suggests he grew up in southern Britain, far from where he was laid to rest. But why he was there, and why his head was removed?
The reconstruction is the work of researchers at National Museums Scotland and the independent U.K.-based forensic anthropologist Christopher Rynn, who built it from the shape of the man’s skull. The result shows a man with dark eyes and dark hair, depicted without a beard, a choice based on what was common at the time.
The find is unusual in its own right. John H. Reid, an archaeologist at the Trimontium Trust who was not involved in the excavations, told Live Science that Scotland’s soil seldom preserves human skeletons, which makes a Roman-era burial an uncommon discovery.
A Life Written in Bone
The man was probably about 50 years old when he died, at some point between A.D. 142 and 165. His remains were buried near the Roman fort at Inveresk, on Scotland’s east coast just southeast of what is now Edinburgh. His skeleton suggests an active life. His nose had been broken and had healed, and his right elbow showed extensive bone growth, perhaps from arthritis. Reid said the growth may instead have been the body’s response to a physical injury.
The arm raises a further puzzle. According to researchers at National Museums Scotland, its limited movement meant he could not have used a sword, so he was probably not a soldier, even though he seems to have been working for the Roman army when he died.
Reid offered a couple of possibilities: he might have used weapons in his other hand, or held a job that did not involve frontline fighting, such as a clerk.
“He could have been left-handed, or he could have had a ‘desk job’,” said Reid, as quoted by Live Science.
Burial with Dignity, but Without a Head
It is unclear why the man was decapitated, though burials hundreds of miles away may offer a clue. Other headless bodies from about the same period have turned up in southern Britain, where the man seems to have grown up, so beheading may have been an obscure burial rite among some southern Britons.
It does not appear to have been a punishment. Reid explained that other aspects of the grave indicated a dignified burial, unlike those of executed criminals, who were often decapitated in Roman-era Britain. The man was not alone in being beheaded, either: according to the museum’s statement, the remains of six Roman-era burials have been found at Inveresk, and four of the dead had been similarly decapitated.
Two Pushes into the North
The fort at Inveresk was built around A.D. 140 and acted as a command-and-supply center for forts along the Antonine Wall, which ran along the shortest route between Scotland’s west and east coasts, roughly the line between Glasgow and Edinburgh, although neither city existed then.
Rome’s ambitions in the north stretch back to the invasion of Britain under Emperor Claudius in A.D. 43. After a victory over a coalition of native Caledonian tribes at the Battle of Mons Graupius in about 83, the Romans tried to impose control, but by about 120 they had retreated to Hadrian’s Wall. The Inveresk fort was built for a second push to secure southern Scotland. That failed too, and after A.D. 162 the Romans withdrew again to Hadrian’s Wall.
Reid said there were several ways non-Romans could have served with the army, including as servants or artisans attached to the legions, or as soldiers in auxiliary units or even citizen-based legions. By the time of the Antonine Wall, few members of the army in Scotland would have been from the Italian peninsula, he added.
Isotopic analysis points to southern Britain, but Reid noted he may alternatively have been recruited from a nearby region, such as the coast of what is now the Netherlands, that gave the same isotopic profile.
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