Sunbury American. [volume] (Sunbury, Pa.) 1848-1879, 1864-11-19
Remarkable Discovery in Eng
land.


Remarkable Discovery in Eng
land.
The Liverpool (England) Mercury con-
tains letter from Mr.. J. Z. Ashton, agent
of the contractors for the iron work of the
bride crossing the Mersey, at Runcorn, Ian
cashire, giving the account of the discovery
of human body in a most excellent state
of preservation, which must have lain in the
rest of death for 1,5O0 years. We add the
account as given by Mr. Ashton;
The discovery was made ia the following
manner On the 27th of August, while
sinking one of our caissons, an obstacle was
met with which detied the pressure ex-
ercisd by our sinking apparatus. Divers
were sent down, who. on removing guam
tity of sand from about the base of the cais-
! son, reported the obstacle to be large log
of wood. BY the help of strong crane,
and after removing the pressure from the
caisson, we were enabled to draw it up to
| the staging, and found it not to be n log of
wood, as the divers, misled by its general
attrided state had reported, but large
coffin shaped box of great strength, mea-
suring about eight feet by three feet The
wood had become imprcgnated with oxide
| of iron. from the red sandstone, which had
made it as hard as iron itself, so that it was
with the greatest dit tiiculty that we were
enabled to prize open the lid. The inside,
which was roughly hewn to the shape of a
human body, with large additional space
at the head, was lined with a gIeyfsh, btu
minous substance, and contained the body
of man in a most wonderful state of pre-
servation.
IL is attired in the dress of IL wealthy Ro-
man citizen. the tunic and toga both white,
embroidered with purple and gold threads,
the togs fastened with handsome gilt fibu-
Ia. The straps of the buckskins are studded
with golden bosses. Attached to a girdle
are ii tablet and golden hi;teG stylus.
The tint ensemble, in fact, while not glarng,
is rich and tasteful. The body, though in
civil dress, appears to be that of leginory
officer as "a large military cloak is
swarthed round it, and by its sides are a
short Cthe famous Roman "gradium'')
with its belt, javein and vinea, such as
centurians used to discipline among the
men. A fine onyx signet ring, bearing the
letters S. p. Q. r., and figure of a wolf, is
on the finger. This ! conjecture to be q
symbol of authority delegated by the Ro
man Senate, or the then reigning emperor
to the bearer. The sword and belt alsC
bear the initials :. p. O. X. The head o.
the vinea is shaped into rude resemblance
To IL Roman eagle. The body has been EN-
bamed in so skilfu a manner as to preserve
even after this lapse of time, the features to
tally distinct. but is excessively fragile
crumb!ing at a touch in fact, it has only
been preserved from total destruction by {
mantle, and by n quantity of cryptgami(
plant allied to IA common eQuisetum, whicl
is packed around it, keeping it steady anC
immoyeabe in the coffin. forbear giving
Il more detailed account, and will proceet
to mention briefly the contents of the space
above the head Of the corpse. \ quantity
Of the equisetum like herb sustains uniniure,
an amphora of course earthen ware, with
yellow vitrcrOus glaze.
The handles and neck are broken off, and
inside it is placed--also with packing,
beautifully executed cenerary urn of red Sa
mian ware, containing ashes, and small
roll of vellum covered with characters which
| am unable to decipher, but believe to b'
Saxon. Sprinkled through the scroll how
, ever find the Roman name 20. Sulpicins
Piso," the initials "S. p. O. r." the words
"legatus," ''crematio," "manes, ''lares," anC
few Others. This scroll | therefore i'm
agine to hold the key to the enigma pre-
sented 10y the many anopalous appearances
, ! | have described and am about to describe
In the amphora, beneath the urn, are nun
Der of ornaments Of gold and silver, such a
were worn by the Saxon females of rank
among them is a kind If rude locket con
. tanning long tess of glossy yellow hair
, The ornaments appear To be a set, rs if the,
had belonged to one derson, and this fact
. coupled with the presence Of the hair, lead
me to suppose the ashes contained in tht
urn to be those of the owner both OF then
and the hair. The amphora also contains
a small packet of CONS, nearly one hun
dred in number, of which forty three ar
gold, and OF the reigns of the Roman en-
, perors-IIonorius, dating A. d. 4l0, few
, of Iladran, Antonius, rnd Severus, will
, earlier dates.
, The remaining coins arc silver, probabl,
Saxon, but owing To their murilatcd and dc
faced condition am unable 10 say positive
/ ly, On one only is il date visible viX, 46l
, From those dates, as well as from the SaxOl
ornaments, am inclined TO refer the re
| mains to about the date of the first arriva
of the Saxons in Britain. The corps ma,
f he that of one of the last emissarles of Rom
, to this Island-or as history speaks of NJ
! political Intercourse between Rome and on
i Island at that time he may have been con
nected with religious, not II civil mis-
, sion. The ashes | surmise to be those Of
, Roman female But now shall we accoun
for the presence of the remains of a Roman
and Saxon III II common tombi Nor
strange still is the embalmiHg of the Roma
and the cremation of the Saxon. The posi-
tion of the coffin in the bed %: the river
also strange but an overturned boat an,
the shifting sands may account for thi:
Possibly the scroll found IN the urn ma
: give an explanation of this, and till this ha
: been deciphered we must be content to IT
main in the dark.