Headless Skeletons Unearthed in Eastern England

CAMBRIDGESHIRE, ENGLAND—Eleven of the 17 skeletons recently found in a Roman burial site in the East of England by researchers led by Patrick Moan of Oxford Archaeology had been decapitated, with their heads positioned by their feet, according to a BBC News report. Pottery had been placed in the graves, and in one of them, a pot was found in place of the head. The burials, which have been dated to the third century A.D., were discovered near traces of an Iron Age settlement made up of 40 roundhouses, trackways, and enclosures related to farming activities. Roman coins, brooches, a large lead lid or platter, pottery and a kiln, and querns and millstones were also unearthed. To read about decapitated bodies buried in a Roman cemetery in Sussex, go to "Foreign Funeral Rites."