The Mystery of the Gypsum Mummies with Prof Maureen Carroll

Professor Carroll is Chair of Roman Archaeological Studies at the University of York and leads the ‘Seeing the Dead’ project, which is transforming how we understand Roman burial practices in Britain.

Using 3D imaging and a range of scientific techniques, her team has examined over 20 gypsum-encrusted Roman-period inhumations from York, Doncaster, and surrounding areas. These remarkable burials have preserved extraordinary detail — from textiles and clothing to fingerprints — offering rare insights into individual lives at the moment of burial.

In this talk, Professor Carroll explores the latest findings from the project and what they reveal about Roman attitudes to death and commemoration. Far from being anonymous remains, these individuals show clear evidence of care, preparation, and attention, shedding light on how Romans honoured the dead, both young and old, in provincial Britain.

A fascinating exploration of archaeology, science, and human story-telling, and one of the most remarkable burial assemblages in Roman Britain.

Maureen Carroll is Professor of Roman Archaeology at the University of York. She trained as a Classical Archaeologist in Canada, the USA, and Germany. She obtained a BA Honours in Classical Studies at Brock University, an MA in Classical Archaeology at Indiana University, and a PhD in Classical Archaeology at Indiana University and the Freie Universität in Berlin. After over a decade of working for the state archaeological services in Germany and teaching at the University of Cologne, Maureen joined the Department of Archaeology at the University of Sheffield where she was promoted to Professor of Roman Archaeology in 2013.  She joined the Department of Archaeology at York as Chair in Roman Archaeology in September 2020. She is the director of an Arts and Humanities Research Council project entitled Seeing the Dead. New Insights into Roman Gypsum Burials in Yorkshire.

Maureen is a Roman archaeologist whose key research interests are Roman burial practices, funerary commemoration, Roman dress and identity, and Roman childhood and family studies. She has published widely on these topics, including books on Spirits of the Dead. Roman Funerary Commemoration in Western Europe (Oxford University Press 2006), Infancy and Earliest Childhood in the Roman World. A Fragment of Time (Oxford University Press 2018), and The Making of a Roman Imperial Estate. Archaeology in the vicus at Vagnari, Puglia (Archaeopress 202). Maureen has directed excavations in Germany, Italy, Tunisia, and Britain. She has been visiting professor in Switzerland (Universität Basel and Université de Fribourg), Germany (Humboldt Universität in Berlin), and Canada (McMaster University and the University of Calgary).

This talk takes place both in-person and online via Zoom

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Non members attending online will receive the joining details via email within 48 hours prior to the talk.