SOMERSET, ENGLAND—The Telegraph reports that a skull discovered last spring on a riverbank in southwest England belonged to a woman who lived sometime between 380 and 190 B.C. Cut marks suggest the 45-year-old woman had been decapitated, either before or after death, and her head deposited in the River Sowy. “We have found similar severed heads like this in other water places,” said archaeologist Richard Bunning of South West Heritage Trust, “so it seems that they were sacred places, rather than just where people were living.” The rest of the woman’s body is missing, but investigators did recover the remains of posts that had been driven deep into the riverbed and may have supported a raised walkway for ritual activity at the river. The posts are being radiocarbon dated to see if they are the same age as the skull. Bunning added that analysis of the skull indicates the woman had severe osteoarthritis in the joint of her right jaw, gum disease, and tooth loss. “We don’t know if she was a victim or a revered member of a tribe, but it was clearly an important ritual site,” Bunning concluded. To read about another site nearby, go to “Legends of Glastonbury Abbey.”
