Away from grand temples, a recycled Bronze Age burial mound became the focus of a Roman religious complex

This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies. Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: The Romans were master engineers, building sprawling road networks, towering aqueducts and arenas across their empire. They were also good at recycling.

New research has revealed that they turned the remains of a 4,000-year-old Bronze Age burial mound in Suffolk, England, into the center of a religious complex. Bronze Age barrows were circular burial mounds made of earth or stone that served either as communal or individual tombs. In 2016, archaeologists excavated a site known as Land East of Kings Warren, which contained a single barrow.

What they uncovered beneath the Suffolk soil revealed that the prehistoric monument had a much longer history. The team mapped the barrow's huge 45-meter-diameter (148-foot) ring ditch, and dating of sediments revealed it was constructed between 2200 and 1600 B.C. They also recovered a raft of artifacts, including pottery, coins and animal bones.

Evidence from across the site showed human activity from the Neolithic period through the Middle Ages. But what made the scientists conclude that this old Bronze Age burial site had actually been used as a Roman shrine? The answers are revealed in their paper published in the journal Britannia.

The first major clue was the footprint of a small timber building. Archaeologists uncovered postholes, Roman roof tiles and brightly painted plaster in and around the structure, directly next to the ancient barrow. While a decorated building alone does not prove the site was religious, there were no obvious signs of homes or other domestic activity within the surrounding enclosure, suggesting the building may have held some importance.

Digging into the soil nearby, archaeologists uncovered what they interpreted as ritual offerings. These included pig skulls and feet deposited close to the timber structure, alongside other animal remains, including the complete skeleton of a dog, a near-complete cockerel and a near-complete cow. "The range of objects which have been placed hints that it may have been the act of deposition, as opposed to the object itself, which was more pertinent at this site," wrote the paper's author Angus Forshaw.