Currently on display at the Rheinische Landesmυseυm in Bonn, Germany.
UK archaeologists have discovered a Roman-era mercenary buried with his sword and a mysterious decapitated skeleton.
Vale of Glamorgan Council in Wales hired rυbicon Heritage Services to assess a road they wanted to straighten
It led to the discovery of an extensive trove of archaeological artifacts and hundreds of tombs dating back thousands of years.
Roman Skeletons On a five-mile section of the road was a collection of Roman artifacts and several skeletons, Mark Collard, CEO of Rυbicon Heritage who is leading the project, told Insider.
One is believed to be a mercenary, buried with a large sword and a military brooch, dating from the period when “the Roman Empire collapsed in Britain,” Collard said.
Nearby was another skeleton of a decapitated man, buried with his head between his feet.
In 2019, at a Roman cemetery in Suffolk, England, archaeologists found the same corpse configuration in 17 decapitated skeletons whose heads were believed to have been removed after death.
The find left “archaeologists scratching their heads,” Live Science reported.
What the practice symbolized remains a mystery. One theory suggests a link to a pagan belief system of pre-Roman Celtic tribes who considered the head to be the container of the soul, archaeologists told LiveScience.
Both men in Wales were buried on a large hill with “fantastic views of the countryside”. You have to think there must be a reason for it,” Collard told Insider.
An ancient burial site
Collard said another excavated section of road revealed a burial site from a later period that also raised many questions.
In the middle of a field lies a once-hidden medieval cemetery, discovered by Collard and his team, containing 450 bodies.
People returned to the cemetery for approximately 500 years (from the 6th to the 13th century) to bury their loved ones there. “It is unusual that they are effectively buried in the middle of a field. It’s not near a church. And that’s one of the things we’re wondering why people go back so long to get to the people at the top of this mound,” Collard said.
The team is conducting detailed analysis of the remains, looking for family links to the bodies, signs of illness or injury, or clues about diet.
The team behind the excavation has published an e-book detailing the project called “Five Mile Lane,” which describes what has been found so far, including Bronze Age cremations, an arrowhead and a 3,000-pound circular horse. . years of antiguaty.
Detailed results will be published at the end of 2022.
“Archaeologists always say we didn’t expect to find so much, and in this case, we really didn’t, because previous studies didn’t raise much hope. But it has proven to be an incredibly densely occupied prehistoric, Roman and later landscape, with much activity since 4000 BC. C. until World War II,” Collard said.