50 Graves of Slaves Who Toiled at a Roman Villa Unearthed in England

By Laura Geggel - Associate Editor 3 days ago


Archaeologists have uncovered what may be the graves of 50 enslaved workers who labored at an elite Roman villa just under 2,000 years ago in what is now southern England.

These burials date to the Roman period in the United Kingdom, from about A.D. 43 to A.D. 410. Many of the deceased were buried with grave goods, such as pottery and brooches, in what is now Somerset, a county in southwest England.

"It's relatively rare to excavate this number of Roman burials in our region, but in particular, in this case, we are very confident that all the burials are people who worked on a Roman villa estate," said Steve Membery, a senior historic environment officer at South West Heritage Trust in the United Kingdom, which oversaw the archaeological excavation.

These laborers likely weren't paid for their work, he noted.

"They are most likely household servants, agricultural workers, and many may have technically been slaves," Membery told Live Science in an email. "So, this is a rare opportunity to study a sample of a community."

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