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Cement and building materials supplier Cemex has donated a number of artefacts found in their quarries in Berkshire to Reading museum.
The artefacts include a Bronze Age ‘logboat coffin’, including the remains of a Roman woman, and two swords. They were unearthed in active CEMEX sand and gravel quarries in the Reading area during operations around 30 years ago.
The ‘logboat’ coffin dates back to 50 -150AD and was found in 1982. It is a hollow tree trunk made into a canoe shape with the hollow extended to accommodate the body of a woman in her fifties. The lid had collapsed in the coffin, resulting in the skeleton and lid being in pieces when uncovered.
The two Bronze Age swords were found in 1979 and 1980 in the same area of a quarry at Wraysbury.
It is planned that the artefacts will soon be on display in the Museum for local people to see and learn more about their heritage and one of Reading’s earlier residents.
