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Home » Religion and Belief » Pre-Christian worship » Cremation

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  • This group of objects was discovered a few inches below the modern ground surface in a garden. It is one of the earliest Roman cremation burials in Wales, dating to about AD. 60. The two large broken jars contained cremated bone and soil. The white war flagon and small beaker probably contained offerings for the dead. Two small bronze brooches were also found with the cremations. Source: Display text, Abergavenny Museum
Roman cremation urns, Abergavenny
  • These pottery urns date from the Bronze Age and were discovered at the burial site known as 'Bedd Branwen' [Branwen's Grave], near the river Alaw, Llanbabo, Anglesey. By 1600 B.C. cremation had become the normal means of human burial. Following the cremation ceremony, the ashes and bones were either gathered and buried in a hole in the ground or were left on the surface. More attention was paid to the ashes on some occasions and they were placed in containers such as the pottery urns shown here. The two large pots shown here are cremation urns which belong to two separate burials. The larger of the two urns (from burial L) has a decorated collar with a rope design. An accessory pot was also found nearby which contained the ear-bones of a baby. The smaller of the two cremation urns (from burial C) has a collar which has been decorated with sharp incisions. No accessory pots were found with this burial but a single jet bead had been placed at the bottom of the urn as a grave offering. The smallest of the three pots is an acessory pot. These smaller vessels were often placed near the cremation urn and may have contained food or drink. This acessory pot was found close to burial H and contained dark earth and the ear-bones of a new-born baby.
Bronze Age pottery from Bedd Branwen burial site, Anglesey
  • Black burnished-ware urn with 'Attilli' inscribed on the rim.
Roman cinerary urn from Castell Collen Roman fort, Llanyre
  • Collared urn from Carneddau II excavations. In the summer of 1989, the Clwyd-Powys Archaeological Trust excavated a Bronze Age cairn, near Carno, to recover buried archaeological information in response to a forestry planting application. The site proved to date to c. 1800 BC and to have had a complex history, undergoing several changes and additions. The burials and rituals carried out at the site also proved to be complex involving funeral pyres and cremation burials. In 1990, further excavations were carried out on a monument which turned out to be another Bronze Age cairn. The cairn proved to be similar to that excavated in 1989 and covered a number of cremation burials placed in pits dug into the subsoil. Some of these burials were also placed in collared urns like the one shown here. The top (collar) of the urn has been decorated with a twisted cord or string which has been impressed into the clay while the pot was still soft and wet. Charcoal from the contents of the urn has produced a radiocarbon date of c.1700 BC. Description: Powysland Museum and Montgomery Canal Centre
Bronze Age Urn from Carneddau Cairn, near Carno
  • Flint arrowheads recovered from the cursus complex at Sarn-y-Bryn-Caled, south of Welshpool. The arrowheads were recovered from the cremated remains of the primary burial at the site. They are white because they have been burnt, suggesting that they were actually in the corpse when it was cremated. The cursus complex at Sarn-y-Bryn-Caled is a long, rectangular ditched enclosure about 10 metres wide and 400 metres long. It had banks on the outside of the ditches and had been dated to the Neolithic period about 3700 BC. The purpose of the cursus is obscure, but it appears to have been a ritual site. The cursus attracted other ritual and burial sites. Ring ditches, ploughed-out burial mounds, cluster around its northern end and there is also a large ritual enclosure or 'henge' monument partly underlying Mill Lane. The construction of the Welshpool by-pass prompted the excavation of some of the components of the cursus complex. A small penannular ditch to the south-east of the complex produced four human cremation burials and fragments of late Neolithic Peterborough Pottery. Radiocarbon dates of c. 2900 BC were obtained for the site. The ring ditches of Coed-y-Dinas produced more than thirty vessels of Beaker pottery and dates of 1900 BC. The most spectacular monument so far excavated was the timber circle at Sarn-y-Bryn-Caled. This was a double circle of large oak posts standing about 4 metres high. An entrance faced south suggesting the possibility of sun worship or orientation. A central burial pit contained two human cremation burials; one was associated with a small Bronze Age food vessel pot and the other, the primary burial, appeared to be a human sacrifice as the four high quality barbed and tanged flint arrowheads shown here were found in the burial and had probably been the cause of death. This practice can be paralleled at Stonehenge. Description: Powysland Museum and Montgomery Canal Centre
Flint arrowheads from Sarn-y-Bryn-Caled, near Welshpool
  • Pottery fragments recovered from the cursus complex at Sarn-y-Bryn-Caled, south of Welshpool. The pottery fragments were recovered from the cremated remains of a secondary burial at the site and appear to be part of a middle / late Neolithic vessel in the Peterborough style. The cursus complex at Sarn-y-Bryn-Caled is a long, rectangular ditched enclosure about 10 metres wide and 400 metres long. It had banks on the outside of the ditches and had been dated to the Neolithic period about 3,700 BC. The purpose of th cursus is obscure, but it appears to have been a ritual site. The cursus attracted other ritual and burial sites. Ring ditches, ploughed-out burial mounds, cluster around its northern end and there is also a large ritual enclosure or 'henge' monument partly underlying Mill Lane. The construction of the Welshpool by-pass prompted the excavation of some of the components of the cursus complex. A small penannular ditch to the south-east of the complex produced four human cremation burials and fragments of late Neolithic Peterborough Pottery. Radiocarbon dates of c. 2900 BC were obtained for the site. The ring ditches of Coed-y-Dinas produced more than thirty vessels of Beaker pottery and dates of 1900 BC. The most spectacular monument so far excavated was the timber circle at Sarn-y-Bryn-Caled. This was a double circle of large oak posts standing about 4 metres high. An entrance faced south suggesting the possibility of sun worship or orientation. A central burial pit contained two human cremation burials; one was associated with a small Bronze Age food vessel pot (as shown here) and the other, the primary burial, appeared to be a human sacrifice as four high quality barbed and tanged flint arrowheads were found in the burial and had probably been the cause of death. This practice can be paralleled at Stonehenge. Description: Powysland Museum and Montgomery Canal Centre
Pottery fragments from Sarn-y-Bryn-Caled, near Welshpool