HEREFORD, ENGLAND—The remains of a Saxon child estimated to have been between the ages of ten and 12 at the time of death were unearthed at Hereford Cathedral as part of an excavation funded by the Heritage Lottery. At the time of the burial, a Saxon palace is thought to have stood on the site. “We are still investigating it. The child seems to have been a very poorly young person but was buried with dignity,” Andy Boucher of Headland Archaeology told BBC News. The remains of thousands of people buried from the eleventh to the nineteenth centuries were uncovered during the restoration of the church’s grounds. Seven hundred of the better-preserved burials are being studied in more detail, including the remains of a man who may have been a Norman knight. Scientists from Durham University found injuries to his legs consistent with a jousting accident. “The burials provided some fascinating information on the health and stresses of daily life in the middle ages in Hereford,” Boucher added. To read more about Anglo-Saxon archaeology, see "The Kings of Kent."
