6 
several large roofing tiles were laid as its only protection. 
There have also been found during the two excavations for the 
railway, as far as I can make out, some six or seven tombs 
made of large tiles, resembling those which may be seen in our 
Museum, arranged like the roof of a house, under which were 
deposited the burnt bones of some Roman gentleman or lady, 
occasionally with vessels and ornaments. Two of these are 
now in the Hospitium, and a third found its way many years 
ago to Mr. Bateman’s Museum in Derbyshire. They are 
generally stamped with the mark of one of the two legions 
which had their head quarters at York, thus showing to which 
regiment, as we may say, the deceased person was attached. 
Another mode of interment was by coffins of lead generally 
enclosed in wood. Six of these, of various sizes, have been 
brought to the Museum from the excavations during* the last 
few years, the finest of which is that laid inside the stone coffin, 
which contained the lady with the hair. Another lead coffin 
of a large si^p was found, with the iron bands nearly complete, 
by which the wood and the lead were kept together. This will 
be set up before long, and exhibited in the lower room of the 
Hospitium. In several instances we came upon the fragments 
of a lead coffin, so decayed that it was impossible to preserve 
them. We have also found in the course of these excavations 
two ossuaria or leaden urns, containing burnt bones; one of 
them, as I have already told you, is inscribed. The number of 
persons who have been buried in coffins of wood is considerable. 
We can trace these by the iron coffin nails. In some instances 
we find that gypsum has been poured into the coffin. But there 
are also a great number of persons who seem to have been laid 
in the ground without any coffin at all. As a general rule the 
bodies face the south or the east; sometimes with a point of 
west in the direction, but in no instance have w r e found any 
one laid with his head towards the north. Into the question 
of urn-burial I must go at some future time. But, in conclu¬ 
sion, let me chronicle a most interesting discovery. In two 
instances, on the outskirts of the ground, just where we should 
expect to find them, we came upon two putei or pits, used for 
the burial of slaves and persons of mean repute. They were 
