97 



which may be read thus : Deo Arciacon et Numini August! 

 Simatius Vitalis Ord * Votum solvit libeus merito. There is 

 nothing in this inscription to indicate its date; nor, conse- 

 quently, the Emperor to whose divinity the altar is in part 

 dedicated. The god Arciacon, whose name occurs in no other 

 known inscription, was probably one of those local deities to 

 whom the Roman legions were prone to pay honour ; especially 

 if, in the attributes ascribed to them, they bore any resemblance 

 to the gods of their own country. It has been conjectured that 

 Arciacon was a local deity of Arciaca, or Artiaca, a place in 

 ancient Gaul.f 



From time to time during the last century various depositories 

 of the dead have been discovered in York and the suburbs : 

 urns containing the ashes of bodies which have been burned, in 

 a very few instances placed within tombs formed of tiles ; and 

 coffins of stone, or occasionally of lead, in which bodies had 

 been buried.J Many interesting relics illustrative of the methods 

 employed by the Romans in disposing of their dead, are to be 

 seen in the Museum of the Society. To these has lately been 

 added, by the kindness of the directors of the York and New- 

 castle Railway, a tomb of a singular and remarkable character, 

 discovered by some workmen employed on that railway, near 

 the entrance to the York station. 



The tomb is composed of ten large, roughly hewn slabs of 

 grit-stone, placed on a few flag-stones ; two on each side, one at 

 each end, and four forming the roof or cover. 



Upon the removal of the stones forming the lid of this rude 

 tomb, a regularly shaped mass of lime appeared, which, being 

 carefully taken out and turned over, was found to bear a pretty 

 perfect impression of a human body. As in the case of the 

 female, whose remains were discovered a few years ago in Hes- 



* Mr. Kenrick conjectures Ordovix, i.e. one of the Ordovices, which he thinks is 

 confimied by the following inscription (Orelli, 2089.) Diabus Malvisiis et Sil- 

 vano Aur. Verecuudus Ord. Brito V. S. L. M. This inscription was found at 

 Cologne. 



+ Now called Arcis sur Aube. 



* Kburacum, p. lOfi, 109. 



