Following the discovery, some 3,000 bodies were taken from St. Mary’s Church and will be reburied somewhere else. Before the Norman church was constructed, it’s thought that the site served as a Roman mausoleum.
Roman statues were found at an abandoned church by archaeologists digging beside the HS2 high-speed rail line.
The collection was discovered at Stoke Mandeville, Buckinghamshire’s historic St. Mary’s Church.
Along with the head of a child, two complete statues of what appear to be a man and a woman were discovered.
Large parts of a Roman jug made of hexagonal glass that is believed to have been buried for more than 1,000 years were also found to be intact.
The only other thing that comes close is a vessel that is on display at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.
Dr. Rachel Wood, the chief archaeologist for HS2 contractor Fusion JV, described the discoveries as “hugely significant” and “unique in the UK.”
We have two entire heads and shoulders in addition to a third head, she added, adding that to discover only one stone head or one pair of shoulders would be quite amazing.
They are considerably more valuable to us archaeologically since they have genuinely altered our perception of this location before the construction of the medieval cathedral.
The church site’s finds, which are thought to have formerly been a Roman mausoleum, have been taken to a lab for expert cleaning and study.
Dr. Wood continued by saying she hopes they end up on display for the neighborhood to see.
Following the discoveries, over 3,000 bodies were taken from the Norman church and will be reburied at a different location.
A new high-speed train system called HS2 will connect Scotland, the North, the Midlands, and London.
Construction on its first phase, which will build links between London and Birmingham, is now underway.
Archaeologists digging for the HS2 corridor in Hillingdon, west London, discovered hundreds of rare Iron Age coins in July.