Remains of Roman teenager buried

The remains of a teenage Roman girl who was buried in the City of London more than 1,500 years ago have been laid to rest in her original grave.

The girl's skeleton was discovered in 1995 when the Swiss Re building, better known as the gherkin, was being built.

For the next 12 years the body was housed at the Museum of London, after its discovery during an excavation.

A service was held for the girl at St Botolphs Church after which her remains were reburied near to the gherkin.

The girl was believed to be aged between 13 and 17. She was buried in keeping with the Roman traditions between 350 and 400 AD.

Taryn Nixon, Managing Director of the Museum of London Archaeology Service, described the reburial as a "humane gesture".

"While we will probably never know precisely who this young Roman Londoner was, it is an elegant and fitting reminder of the City's rich layers of history, for Londoners of today and tomorrow," she said.

(BBC News - 17 April 2007)