This volume presents the evidence from a complex and long-running excavation, which had to contend with significant medieval and post-medieval occupation, most notably St Mary Spital and its cemetery. It adds important new information to our understanding of Londinium's funerary customs by providing new data for one part of its northern cemetery, located just east of Ermine Street. Following a brief introduction on the circumstances of excavation and previous work on the cemeteries of London, the report presents the archaeological sequence (chapter 2), followed by discussions of funerary practice (chapter 3), burial goods (chapter 4) and the analysis of the human remains (chapter 5). The evidence is discussed in a clear and concise conclusion, which is followed by a well-illustrated catalogue and specialist appendices on finds, plant and animal remains and textiles.

The excavators define a series of enclosures and each burial area is discussed in turn, describing the enclosing ditches, burials and other features such as (earlier) wells and roads. Following some poorly defined earlier land use, interments begin c. a.d. 120. There are two main phases of burial, the first dated c. a.d. 120–250 and the second c. a.d. 250–400.

The most spectacular burial is that of a woman aged 18–25, interred in a decorated lead coffin enclosed within a stone sarcophagus. Grave goods include an unusual glass pipette phial, jet rod and disc, jet pin and stone canister. The preservation conditions within the coffin also led to the survival of bay leaves (once filling a pillow) and textiles. Analysis by Jon Peter Wild interprets the materials as a woollen cloth spread over the coffin base, and a damask silk tunic worn by the woman, which incorporated probably purple wool and gold thread. The body was prepared with coniferous Pinacaceae and Mediterranean Pistacia spp. resins; earlier lead isotope analysis suggests that the woman may have grown up in Rome. Clearly of high status, she may have been a follower of a mystery cult, perhaps Bacchus.

There are a few other burials that indicate high status and continental connections, including a child aged c. 5 years buried with ivory and shale bracelets and jet beads in an unusual circular wooden and copper-alloy box and an 8-year-old who was buried in a chalk-packed coffin within a timber-lined burial vault accompanied by glass vessels of a type more commonly found in the Rhineland and northern Gaul. The majority of the burials are not accompanied by grave goods, and the value of the report here lies in the detailed osteoarchaeological analysis by Natasha Powers, which highlights changes over time, such as the changing ratios of men and women and the burial treatment of children, or the frequency and nature of injuries. Two dog burials were also found, perhaps accompanying their owners into the afterworld, or being buried in their own right, but the pits into which they were placed are not clearly associated or aligned with any human burials.

The report represents an important addition to the archaeology of London, and the authors are to be congratulated for pulling together the results of this complex excavation.