First annual project workshop

Thursday, 2nd April 2026
Archaeologists examine a Roman burial within a sarcophagus.
Members of the Seeing the Dead project team excavate a Roman gypsum burial within a stone sarcophagus.

The Seeing the Dead project's first annual workshop is due to take place on Thursday 16th and Friday 17th April 2026. During this two-day event we will be discussing the developments and discoveries of our first year with members of our project team, advisory board and selected academics from across the sphere of Roman research.

This workshop is not open to the public, but over the life of the project (until early 2028) we will be organising public exhibitions and will of course provide updates on progress via our website!

See below for a taste of the workshop's papers and discussions:

Introducing Roman York and the Seeing the Dead Project

  • Martin Millett, Roman York in the 3rd and 4th centuries A.D.
  • Maureen Carroll, Michelle Alexander, Jackie Mosely, The York AHRC Project: Introduction and Overview

The Mediterranean, Continental, and British Contexts of Yorkshire’s Gypsum Burials

  • Francesca Coletti, Research on Roman textiles on bodies in Italy
  • Thibaut Devièse, White and resinous substances in Roman burials in Italy (Rome) and Gaul (Anché and Naintré)
  • Solenn de Larminat, Roman burials and white substances in North Africa (Tunisia)
  • Nicole Reifarth, Roman gypsum burials in Trier, Germany
  • Rebecca Gowland, Roman burial practices in Britain: A brief overview of mortuary customs
  • Rhea Brettell, "A glimpse of the unseen": pioneering the study of aromatic substances in Roman mortuary contexts in Britain

Seeing the Dead in Roman Yorkshire: Preliminary Results

  • Maureen Carroll, Work package 1: Understanding the Gypsum Funerary Rite in Yorkshire
  • Patrick Gibbs and James Osborn, Work package 2: Visualising the Dead
    Sarah Hitchens and Maureen Carroll, Work package 6: Textile Remains and Imprints
  • Laura Fitton, Work package 4: Items within the Gypsum Casings
  • Kevin Hayward, Work package 3: The Gypsum Composition
  • Jackie Mosely, Jennifer Wakefield, and Andrew Beeby, Work package 5: Substances in and on the Textiles
    Michelle Alexander, Malin Holst, Corrie Hyland, Tom Booth, and Lara Gonzalez Carretero, Work package 7: Burial Bioarchaeology
Preparing gypsum fragments for CT scanning.
Preparing gypsum fragments for CT scanning.
An archaeologist photographs a fragment of gypsum from a Roman burial.
Recording fragments of gypsum from Roman burials.