The findings raise the possibility that Chinese traders settled in the area, and may have even set up their own trading communities. However, in her journal article, Dr Redfern went on to add: “It may well be that these individuals were themselves or were descended from enslaved people originating from Asia, as there were slave-trade connections between India and China, and India and Rome."

Wouldn’t grave goods or other context provide clues about whether they were slaves or merchants?