Decapitated Remains Uncovered in Roman Cemeteries

CAMBRIDGESHIRE, ENGLAND—BBC News reports that decapitated bodies of men and women have been unearthed at three third-century A.D. cemeteries located near a military supply farm settlement site in southeastern England. The heads of the dead were placed at the feet or lower legs. Archaeologist Isabel Lisboa said as many as one-third of the people buried in the cemeteries had been executed, compared to six percent of those interred in most Roman-era cemeteries in Britain. Several of the dead were kneeling and struck from behind with a sword, she added. One of the executed was an older woman whose remains were found face down. The study suggests she had been tortured before her death or her remains were mutilated after she was killed. Lisboa said the harsh punishments coincide with a period of increasing instability in the Roman Empire. “The number of capital crimes doubled in the third century and quadrupled in the fourth century,” she explained. DNA testing of the remains found few relationships between those who were buried in the cemeteries, suggesting that they may have served in the Roman army or were enslaved. Chemical analysis further suggests that two of the dead had been born in Scotland or Ireland, and another in the Alps. To read about decapitated skeletons found in a Roman cemetery in York, go to "Off with Their Heads."