Image Credit: Seeing the Dead Project/University of York and York Museums Trust

Roman Burials Preserve 1800 Year Old Fingerprints

New research has revealed an extraordinary Roman funerary practice in Britain: around 1,800 years ago, people smeared a liquid gypsum paste directly onto the bodies of the dead, leaving behind fingerprints that remain visible today.
The discovery comes from the University of York’s Seeing the Dead project, which is investigating unusual Roman-era burials in Yorkshire dating to the third and fourth centuries A.D. In these burials, coffins made of stone or lead were filled with a gypsum-based material — a mineral commonly used in ancient plaster. When mixed with water, heated gypsum forms a thick liquid that hardens over time, creating a detailed cast of the body, similar to the famous plaster casts from Pompeii.
At least 45 such liquid gypsum burials are known in Yorkshire. While studying a stone sarcophagus excavated in the 1870s, researchers made a surprising discovery: clear handprints and fingerprints embedded in the hardened gypsum. These marks only became visible after the casing was carefully removed, cleaned, and 3D scanned.
The fingerprints suggest that the gypsum was not simply poured, as previously believed, but was instead applied by hand as a soft paste and carefully smoothed over the body inside the coffin. According to Maureen Carroll, a Roman archaeologist at the University of York, the discovery reveals an intimate and hands-on approach to burial that is rarely visible in the archaeological record.
“These marks are a striking trace of human activity that almost never survives in Roman funerary contexts,” Carroll explained. The fingerprints may even help determine whether a professional undertaker or a family member prepared the body.
Researchers are now exploring the possibility of extracting DNA from the handprints, an ambitious effort that could potentially identify the biological sex of the person who handled the burial. If successful, it would offer an unprecedented glimpse into the final moments of Roman funerary rituals — preserved not in stone or text, but in human touch.

Published on: 11-12-2025

Edited by: Abdulmnam Samakie

Source: Live Science