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
Males
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
Looking for a specific specimen?
The London human remains collection have been digitised
Collections team
Principal Curator
Curator
Curatorial assistant
Any questions?
If you would like to use any specimens for research, please get in touch
Collections on the move
Access to some collections will be affected as we prepare for the move to our new collections, science and digitisation centre.
Accessing the collections
Scientists and collections management specialists can visit the collections and borrow specimens for research.
Collections management
Our duty is to provide a safe and secure environment for all of our collections.