This volume is the first to concentrate on Roman funerary activity in Carlisle, and one of the first to cover modern excavation and analysis of funerary deposits on the northern frontier. The book reports on excavations on Botchergate, the Roman road which runs south-eastwards from the fort and town of Luguvalium towards Old Penrith (Voreda) and Brougham (Brocavum). Since the late eighteenth century, it has been known that Roman funerary deposits were situated along this road for a distance of just over a kilometre from the fort.

The first chapter briefly summarises the history of Roman Carlisle, the circumstances of the excavation (undertaken by Wardell-Armstrong in advance of the construction of a new City Council building, Cumbria House), and a round-up of previous knowledge and other recently excavated sites on the east side of Botchergate, most of which yielded a mix of strip buildings, industrial activity and funerary deposits. The second chapter describes the stratigraphic sequence within a framework of nine phases from the late-first/early-second century to the modern period. Three areas were excavated, of which the most complex, Area C, was situated on the Botchergate street frontage. The first phase was characterised by a large curving boundary ditch which was superseded in the early-second century by the division of the site into a series of roadside funerary enclosures and burial plots, within which most of the cremation deposits were located. The funerary activity seems to have been short lived, as it was succeeded in the mid-second century by the ‘repurposing of the area for settlement’ and a new system of land division, probably for strip buildings, within which were traces of timber structures and cobbled surfaces. This seems to represent the extension of the town along this thoroughfare. Notable are a pair of successive circular buildings adjacent to a stone-lined well. Occupation, evidenced by structural changes and pit digging, continued until the end of the second century, after which a thick soil accumulation developed.

The main thrust of the volume is the description and analysis of the funerary deposits. These comprised nine urned and ten unurned cremation deposits, one possible inhumation and two exceptional cremation burials. In the deposit catalogue each is described and its artefactual and ecofactual contents thoroughly detailed. The exceptional deposits (Nos 2 and 10) contained 22 and 24 pottery vessels respectively, No. 10 retaining evidence for the burial of the assemblage in an iron-bound wooden chest. These are examined in detail. The two burials both included the same basic suite of vessels comprising eight miniature cups and five dishes made in locally produced coarse oxidised wares. In addition to these, each deposit contained a small variety of other vessels, some miniature, and several imitations of samian ware and bronze vessels, including patera, jugs and flagons.

The catalogue is followed by thorough analyses of the cremated human remains, including both adult and juvenile individuals, and also a detailed report on the Roman pottery from all phases of the site, funerary and otherwise.

The comprehensive chapter on the interpretation of the cemetery begins with an examination of the Cumbria House site in context with Roman Carlisle, broadening out to a comparison with cemeteries in northern Britain. Here it is shown that, on the whole, the cremation deposits are similar to those recovered from other northern cemeteries such as those at Low Borrowbridge, Brougham and Birdoswald, with urned deposits featuring either one or two ceramic vessels. Aspects of the layout of the cemetery, the form of deposits, aspects of the funerary process and discussion of species represented in charcoal remnants of pyre fuel and other plant macrofossils are presented in comparison with other north British sites. Human remains and the sparse grave goods are discussed within the same context. The discussion is then broadened, looking at comparison with cemeteries in south-east Britain, finding parallels with burials 2 and 10 in box burials, the appearance of imitation samian ware, and the use of large ‘services’ of pottery vessels.

It is in broadening the discussion to cemeteries in Gallia Belgica that the closest similarities with the unique burials 2 and 10 are found. These exceptional groups are very closely parallelled by richly furnished graves found in northern France and Belgium, specifically in the necropolis of Bavay (Bagacum) and the cemetery at Blicquy, both within the civitas of the Nervii. The composition of cremation groups in this area includes miniature dishes and cups in similar, and, in at least one case, identical ratio to those from Cumbria House. Although the vessels from Carlisle were made in local clay, their range, form and even surface finish are closely similar to those from the Nervian area, and it is a logical conclusion that the Cumbria House burials reflect a Nervian presence in early-second-century Carlisle, including potters familiar with the funerary wares from the area and able to replicate them. This conclusion is pursued by examining the presence of Nervian military units in Britain, and the broader Nervian diaspora in northern Europe. Although no Nervian cohort is attested at Carlisle, evidence has previously been advanced to suggest the arrival of a cohort from northern Gallia Belgica in the early-second century.

This well-presented volume is an important addition to the archaeology of Carlisle, and to the funerary archaeology of Roman north Britain. The descriptive and analytical material are excellent, and the discussion wide ranging. It importantly shows that, in exceptional circumstances, funerary archaeology can convincingly demonstrate the movement of specific groups within the Roman world.