
A series of skulls from Ripple Road, Barking
In 1932, during housing developments, a Roman stone coffin was found at Ripple Road in Barking. The burials appeared to have been disturbed at some point in the distant past by grave robbers.
Individuals
- 4
Male
- 3
Origins of the collection
Christopher Hawkes, then Assistant Keeper in the Department of British and Medieval Antiquities at the British Museum, was called out to the site along with Miriam L Tildesley, an osteological researcher at the Royal College of Surgeons (RCS).
The teeth of these individuals show extensive wear of the enamel, indicative of a coarse diet that was typical during the Roman period.
The remains went to the RCS collections and were subsequently transferred to the Natural History Museum in the late 1940s.
Individuals of note
Dental wear and tear
PA SK 175
An individual with dental wear of the enamel, a carious lesion and ante-mortem tooth loss.

Individual with dental wear of the enamel, a carious lesion and ante-mortem tooth loss
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Accessing the collections
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Collections management
Our duty is to provide a safe and secure environment for all of our collections.
London human remains collection
- Cannon Street collection
- Ebenezer Chapel collection
- London Wall collection
- Ludgate Hill collection
- Ripple Road Barking collection
- St George the Martyr collection
- St Bride's collection
- The Green Ground collection
- The River Thames collection
- Iron age and Roman sites collection
- Medieval collection
- Post-medieval collection
- Sites of unknown date collection