A14 Cambridgeshire: Man's remains offers insight into Romans

Scientists have discovered the man lived 2,000 years ago during the Roman period – but he did not originally come from the rural farmstead located near the burial site.  

Their analysis suggests he was born outside the Roman Empire and is related to Sarmatian groups who lived in an area around modern-day southern Russia and Ukraine.  

Scientists have published their analysis of the remains in a scientific journal. (Image: ©MOLA Headland Infrastructure)The man’s remains were found close to the village of Offord Cluny, near Huntingdon, in 2017. He lived around AD 126-228. 

Scientists from the Francis Crick Institute, Durham University, and Museum of London Archaeology Headland Infrastructure have been working together on the project.  

Their research has now been published in the scientific journal Current Biology.  

Ancient DNA testing on the man’s body has revealed his ancestry is related to Sarmatian groups. (Image: ©MOLA Headland Infrastructure)Marina Silva, from the Francis Crick Institute, said: “We began by extracting and sequencing ancient DNA from the bone of the individual’s inner ear, as this is where it is best preserved.  

“This is not like testing the DNA of someone who is alive, as the DNA is very fragmented and damaged. 

“However, we were able to sequence enough of his DNA to good quality and compared it to samples of people who lived at different times and places in the past.   

“The first thing we saw was that genetically he was very different to the other Romano-British individuals studied so far.  

“In fact, our analysis showed that he had common ancestors with previously studied individuals from the Caucasus and Sarmatian groups.”   

The man's body was excavated in 2017 during the A14 improvement works. (Image: ©Joe Brock, Francis Crick institute)DNA testing alone could not confirm that the man was born outside Britain, as it could have been his parents who moved - so the team turned to other methods.   

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Researchers from the Department of Archeology at Durham University analysed his teeth to find out where he grew up and how his diet changed throughout his life.    

Professor Janet Montgomery of Durham University said: “Until the age of five or six, he lived in an arid location in the east of continental Europe.  

“His diet at this age contained a lot of C4 crops, such as millet and sorghum, which are not native to Europe.  

“As he grew up, he migrated west, and these plants disappeared from his diet.  

“We have speculated for several years where the few people we find in Roman Britain with C4 diets could have come from and now we have an answer!”   

Graphical abstract for the scientific article, showing the key locations including the extent of the Roman Empire and radiocarbon dating results for the remains. (Image: ©Joe Brock, Francis Crick institute)The Sarmatians were Iranian-speaking nomadic peoples and renowned horse riders. 

In 175 AD Emperor Marcus Aurelius defeated a Sarmatian army on the northeastern border of the Roman Empire and incorporated their cavalry into his legions.  

According to the historian Cassius Dio, Marcus Aurelius sent around 5,500 of these Sarmatians to join the Roman legions in Britain.    

This could explain the man’s arrival to Britain, but doesn’t necessarily mean that he was a solider himself. 

The Roman Army defeats the Sarmatians, depicted on Trajan's Column in Rome (from Conrad Cichorius' The Reliefs of Trajan's Column, Berlin, 1896) (Image: ©MOLA Headland Infrastructure)Alex Smith, post-excavation manager for MOLA Headland Infrastructure, speculates: “The [teeth] analysis shows this individual was clearly young at the time he began his journey across the Roman Empire.  

“This ties into previous burial evidence from Britain which suggests entire families may have joined the 5,500 members of the Sarmatian cavalry sent to Britain by Marcus Aurelius.”   

He added: “Did this young man grow up to become part of this cavalry unit?  

“We can’t say, because we don’t have any finds or objects from his grave that connect him to either the Roman army, or the Sarmatians.” 

Map showing the excavation area and location of the burial site. (Image: ©MOLA Headland Infrastructure)During the Roman period, long-distance travel was common.  

People moved from one far edge of the empire to the other, because of economic migration, war, slavery, and to take part in governing the empire.  

Analysis of the body suggests he was born outside of the Roman Empire. (Image: ©MOLA Headland Infrastructure)In February, it was revealed a rare ancient comb carved from a fragment of human skull was among the 280,000 artefacts excavated during the A14 Cambridge to Huntingdon improvement scheme.