OXFORD, ENGLAND—A cemetery at Littlemore Priory in Oxford has been excavated ahead of the construction of a new hotel. “Burials within the church are likely to represent wealthy or eminent individuals, nuns, and prioresses. Those buried outside most likely represent the laity and a general desire to be buried as close to the religious heart of the church as possible,” Paul Murray of John Moore Heritage Services told Discovery News. Among the dead was a woman who had been buried face down. “This was perhaps a penitential act to atone for her sins,” Murray said. She may have been one of the nuns Cardinal Wolsey accused of immoral behavior when he closed the convent in 1525. Other burials included a stillborn baby, two children who had developmental dysplasia of the hip, someone who may have had leprosy, and another individual who had suffered blunt-force trauma to the skull. These individuals may have been cared for by the nuns of the priory. To read more about archaeology in England, see "The Kings of Kent."
