| Abstract: | It is rare to find infant or neo-natal burials in the cemeteries of Roman Britain before the fourth century. There is evidence to suggest that it was as a result of the influence of Christianity that these small bodies came to be buried informal or designated cemeteries, rather than merely being disposed of in convenient pits or ditches, or under the floors or just outside the houses in settlements and towns. It would seem that the presence of neo-natal burials given the same burial rites as adults in a west—east cemetery carefully laid out to avoid intersection of graves or disturbance of other burials is a pointer to identification of the cemetery as Christian. |
