Bridge the Diaspora home

Explore All Sites

358 sites

Yorkshire Museum (Ivory Bangle Lady)

York, United Kingdom, United Kingdom

The Yorkshire Museum holds the remains and grave goods of the 'Ivory Bangle Lady,' a high-status young woman found in a stone coffin at Sycamore Terrace, York, in 1901 and dated to the second half of the 4th century AD. Isotope and craniometric analysis indicates she was likely of North African descent, possibly raised somewhere warmer than Britain before migrating to Roman York (Eboracum). She was buried with jet and ivory bracelets, glass jewelry, a blue-glass jug, a mirror, and a bone plaque reading 'Hail, sister, may you live in God,' indicating Christian belief and elite status. She is among the best-documented examples of a person of African ancestry holding high social rank in Roman Britain.

Counter-Narrative

The myth this site refutes: that the African American struggle was isolated. It resonated from Paris to Lagos to Port-au-Prince.

Associated People

Tap a name to view their profile.

Sources

York Museums TrustUniversity of Reading

Sites in Conversation

"Shared theme: International Diaspora Connections & Education"

"Shared theme: International Diaspora Connections & Education"

"Shared theme: International Diaspora Connections & Education"