Did the Romans throw corn, pulse, or beans on the flames of the funeral
pile (_rogus_), or deposit them with the bones and ashes of the deceased
in their sepulchres? The Query is suggested by a quantity of, to all
appearance, calcined small field beans having recently been found by me,
in small heaps, among a deposit of ashes embedded in sand, in the
perpendicular cutting of a sand-pit at Comb Wood, near Kingston. The
deposit is black, reduced to a fine powder, and, with the exception of
the beans, homogeneous: it was perfectly distinct from the surrounding
sand, and was about two feet under the surface of the soil. For
centuries past Roman remains have been from time to time discovered at
Comb Wood, and it is known to have been a Roman station. The locality in
which I found the deposit is said to have been the sepulchre of the
station; and from an intelligent person, engaged in excavating the sand,
I learned that he occasionally came upon deposits similar to that in
question, containing baked, but unglazed, clay vessels; some, of an oval
form, about a yard in circumference and nearly a foot in depth, and
others of the size and somewhat of the form of a flower-pot. These
vessels fall to pieces after two or three days, through exposure to the
air. He had also found pieces of copper or brass about an inch square,
and of the thickness of a penny, as also coins.
Authorities (Virg. _AEn._ VI. 225.; _Stat. Theb._ VI. 126.; Lucan, IX.
175.) may be cited, showing that perfumes, cups of oil, ornaments,
clothes, dishes of food, and other things supposed to be agreeable to
the deceased, were thrown upon the flames; but I do not find corn or
beans specifically mentioned as having been used on these occasions.
I may add, that the field containing the sand-pit (which is the property
of His Royal Highness the Duke of Cambridge) is close to the road
leading by Putney Heath to Kingston, and on the brow of the declivity of
Comb Hill, overlooking that ancient Saxon seat of royalty which is
stated to have been built out of the remains of the adjoining Roman
station.