Ointment Case or Treasured Keepsake: A Roman Bone Box From a Young Woman's Grave Goes on Show

Small carved bone box with a sliding lid, decorated with rows of ring and dot circles

October

/ 2026

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The Broadway bone box is a small carved container with a sliding lid, made from roe deer bone and placed in a young woman's grave in the late Roman period. Archaeologists from Worcestershire Archaeology found it during an excavation at Milestone Ground, ahead of planned development in the Cotswold village of Broadway, and they say they have never seen anything quite like it. Since Saturday, October 24, 2026, it has been on public view at Broadway Museum and Art Gallery, a short distance from the field where it lay. So what was it for, and what can it reveal about the woman buried with it?

A Box Small Enough to Hold in One Hand

Worcestershire Archive and Archaeology Service announced the find on January 7, 2026. According to the service, the intact box was "found carefully placed in the grave of a young woman and is remarkably well preserved." It measures 68 mm long, 33 mm wide and 30 mm deep (about 2.7 by 1.3 by 1.2 inches), and specialist analysis showed that it was made from the bone of a roe deer.

It is carved with what is known as ring and dot decoration. The service says this decoration first suggested a late Roman date, which radiocarbon dating of the burial has since confirmed. The Cotswold Journal, describing the exhibition, reports that the woman was aged approximately 25 to 30 when she died. That age does not appear in the other reports reviewed for this article.

The excavators believe the box is one of a kind. Laura Griffin, Senior Finds Archaeologist at Worcestershire Archaeology, told BBC Hereford and Worcester that "The box is unique," adding that she had not found another example of it.

Jamie Wilkins, the project officer who led the dig, called the discovery "extraordinary, not only because of the box's craftsmanship and condition, but because of the story it tells about the community that lived here."

What Might the Box Have Held?

However, the purpose of the box is far less certain than its material or its date. The service reports that the box "may originally have held an ointment or similar substance," a cautious phrase that leaves room for other answers. None of the reports reviewed for this article mentions any residue found inside the box or any test of its contents.

What the excavators do stress is the way it was laid in the grave. In their words, "Its careful placement in the grave tells us it was likely a valued or meaningful object, to the woman it was buried with and/or to those who laid her to rest."

Whether the box was something the woman used in life, a gift from family, or an object chosen for the burial itself is a question the published reports do not try to answer. A detailed program of specialist research is now underway, the service says, and once it is complete the finds and records will be deposited with the county museum.

A Fourth Century Cemetery Beside a Cotswold Routeway

The box came from a much larger site. The Cotswold Journal reports that Milestone Ground held 126 burials, 79 of them Roman graves, and that the cemetery is believed to be the largest Roman cemetery yet discovered in Worcestershire. It was primarily used during the fourth century AD, according to the same report, and an image caption from Worcestershire Archaeology describes the Roman graves as lying within a defined cemetery associated with a D-shaped enclosure.

The wider excavation, commissioned and funded by Wychavon District Council, uncovered evidence of around 8,000 years of human activity, from the Mesolithic period to Saxon times. Worcestershire Archaeology says the site's position along a major routeway across the Cotswold escarpment helps explain why so many different communities chose to settle there over time.

Late Roman cemeteries elsewhere in England show how varied the objects placed with the dead could be. At Western Road in Leicester, where the remains of 83 people were recovered, Current Archaeology reports that grave goods accompanied the deceased in nearly half the graves, including bangles, bracelets, beads, hairpins and glass vessels. One man there was buried wearing a late Roman official's decorated belt set, which University of Leicester Archaeological Services dated to the second half of the fourth century or the early fifth century AD.

However, the excavators say nothing comparable to the Broadway box is known. That claim rests on their own search and could change as study continues.

A Young Woman and Her Neighbors

Little has been published about the woman herself beyond her approximate age and sex. None of the reports reviewed here describes her health, her origins or how she died.

Other recent displays show how much that kind of work can reveal. In Colchester, Essex, the so-called Lexden Lady, a late Roman woman buried in a decorated lead coffin, was due to go on display at the Roman Circus Visitor Centre in May 2026. That was reported by the BBC on May 12, 2026. The same BBC report said that residue analysis identified frankincense and gypsum within her coffin, and The Past reports that she was found with five hairpins made of jet from Whitby. Her skeleton is displayed behind the coffin so that visitors can choose how they encounter the remains, according to The Past.

In Bath, a stone coffin found in Sydney Gardens in 2021 held two skeletons. The BBC reported that "Small red and blue beads and a pot, possibly used to offer food as part of a pagan ritual, were also found." The BBC also reported that the Roman sarcophagus with two skeletons unearthed in Bath held one skeleton laid in a prone position and a second laid at its feet.

Bringing the Finds Home to Broadway

The box is one of the highlights of Buried Lives: Unearthing 8,000 Years of Broadway's History, the exhibition at Broadway Museum and Art Gallery. According to the Cotswold Journal, reproductions have been made to show visitors how the box was crafted, and the display also includes Saxon carved bone combs, hobnail footwear, copper-alloy bracelets and a burial containing 86 beads.

However, the exhibition is not entirely new. The Art Fund lists Buried Lives from July 4, 2026 to February 11, 2027, with finds made in 2016 ahead of flood works along Badsey Brook. Anona van Lawick, named by the Cotswold Journal as Museum Director, told it the October opening was the next chapter of Buried Lives.

Speaking to the BBC, which named her as exhibition curator, van Lawick described what the return of the finds meant locally:

"When these were first found, we didn't know they were going to come here. We knew how exciting it was for local residents of Broadway."

"It is unusual for archaeological finds to be displayed so soon after excavation," Wilkins told the Cotswold Journal. He added that visitors have "a rare opportunity to see these important objects and learn about the stories they are beginning to reveal."

Malcolm Rogers, chairman of trustees at the museum, told the BBC that the exhibition put the village and its people "in context," and he added, "You can see the things in absolute detail."

The box's material, size, decoration and late Roman date are on record. What it held, who made it and why no other example has been found are still open, and with specialist research continuing, there is still much to learn about the young woman of Milestone Ground.

How we label claims

Established: the box came from a young woman's grave at Milestone Ground. Its roe deer bone, sliding lid, ring and dot decoration and measurements are as stated by Worcestershire Archaeology. The radiocarbon confirmation of a late Roman date and the museum display are also Established. Unverified: that the box held ointment or a similar substance and that it has no parallel anywhere. Also Unverified: the woman's age of about 25 to 30 (reported only by the Cotswold Journal) and the cemetery's status as the largest Roman cemetery in Worcestershire. Also Unverified: what the box meant to the woman or to those who buried her.

The late Roman bone box from Milestone Ground, Broadway, after cleaning by a conservator. It is carved with ring and dot decoration and has a sliding lid. Photo: Worcestershire Archaeology

By Aris Manus