Archaeologists excavating a training dig near Cambridge have uncovered a grisly burial pit that may offer rare insight into violence and punishment during the turbulent Viking Age in England.
Excavated by a team from the University of Cambridge at Wandlebury Country Park, the pit is a chilling puzzle. It holds four largely intact skeletons alongside a disturbing jumble of disarticulated bones: skulls, legs, and pelvises that appear to have been deliberately grouped or stacked.
“Unique is definitely the word,” Dr Oscar Aldred, an archaeologist at the Cambridge Archaeological Unit, told BBC Science Focus. “I've been doing this job for 30 years and I've never found anything quite like this before.”
The macabre nature of the discovery is clear from the four complete skeletons, all of whom appear to have been deposited immediately after death. One individual was decapitated, with clear chop marks visible on the jaw.
Even more unique is a man estimated to be an exceptional 196cm (6ft 5in) tall, found face-down and possibly with his limbs bound. At a time when the average male stood only 168cm (5ft 6in), his height would have made him a giant.
Yet, his most compelling feature lies in his skull: a healed hole, evidence of trepanation – an ancient form of brain surgery.
“[The hole] looks as though it may have been in the process of healing,” Dr Trish Biers, curator of the Duckworth Collections at the University of Cambridge, told BBC Science Focus.
Trepanation was common in the ancient world, with similar specimens found anywhere from Greece and Rome to South America. Often it was used to treat migraines and seizures, along with psychological conditions.
In this case, Biers suggested that the individual may have had a tumour in the pituitary gland, which could have also caused an excess of growth hormones.
Adding to the site's grim nature is the layer of disarticulated bodies – meaning they were separated at the joints – on top of the skeletons.
“The combination of articulated individuals and then this disarticulated group of individuals in body groups – five skulls together, pelvises almost stacked up and ribs in a pile – is very macabre,” Aldred said. “Whatever happened here was quite gruesome.”
Radiocarbon dating places the deaths in the turbulent 8th and 9th centuries, when Cambridgeshire sat on the volatile frontier between Anglo-Saxon Mercia and Viking-controlled East Anglia.
Crucially, the identity of the dead remains an open question: were they Anglo-Saxon prisoners or captured Vikings?
Further analysis, including ancient DNA and isotope testing, is now underway to reconstruct who these men were and where they came from.
“I want to re-humanise these individuals beyond the fact of their death,” Aldred said. “Not just how they died, but who they were.”
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