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Saturday, 2 May 2015

Essex Society for Archaeology and History to Visit Mersea Island: Saturday 16 May 2015

The next visit of the Essex Society for Archaeology and History marks something of a red letter day.  On 16 May we will be celebrating, with Mersea Island Museum, the recent reinterpretation of the burials at Mersea Barrow, as reported in the latest Transactions of the Society. 

'Introduction to Historic Mersea' – an illustrated talk by Sue Howlett, leading up to the 1912 excavation of the Mersea Barrow.  The excavation itself, by the Morant Club – an offshoot of the Society – was reported fully in Transactions n.s. Vol 13 and can be viewed here: http://esah160.blogspot.co.uk/search?q=romano-british+barrow+on+mersea+island&max-results=20&by-date=true

‘Romans, resins and mortuary rites: molecular evidence from Britain’ –  talk by Rhea Brettell of the University of Bradford, explaining how her identification of frankincense in the Mersea Barrow cremation urn serves to place this discovery in its temporal, spatial and ritual context.  Her paper appears, as mentioned, in Transactions, Fourth Series, Volume 4, currently available to purchase.


After lunch members will have a choice of activity.  Guided tours will be given of the Mersea Barrow or, for those who may have visited there before, around West Mersea village itself.

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