The History Blog

A woman buried in a grave in Iron Age Dorset has been identified as a likely victim of human sacrifice. There is evidence that she did hard physical labor in her short life, died from being stabbed in the neck, and her body was buried in an anomalous, highly ritualized way. This combination of elements is rare physical and circumstantial evidence that the deceased was killed as an offering.

The grave containing human and animal bones was discovered in 2010 in an excavation of an Iron Age banjo enclosure (round areas bounded by a ditch and embankment with an entrance passage that gives them a banjo-like shape) at Winterborne Kingston in Dorset. Archaeologists found multiple burial pits and traces of roundhouses in the enclosure. In pit 5013, the fully articulated skeleton of an adult was discovered over a layer of animal bones.

Analysis found the body belonged to a woman in her late 20s at time of death. Despite her young age, her vertebrae were damaged from exertion and showed signs of arthritic changes. The areas of muscle attachment indicate her muscles were well-developed from rigorous and consistent physical activity. Stable isotope analysis of her teeth found she grew up more than 20 miles from the Winterborne Kingston enclosure.

The animal bones had been deliberately placed, not just tossed in, with different species (sheep, cow, horse, dog) placed parallel to each other in an off crescent-shaped arrangement. The human body, on the other hand, received no such consideration. She was face down on top of the animal bones, head and legs towards the left side, arms bent at the elbows, hands beneath the body.

Banjo enclosures were in use from around 400 B.C. until the mid-1st century A.D. Accelerator mass spectrometry dating of the bones in pit 5013 to around 351-3 B.C., so this burial dates to the early years of the enclosure practice. It is unique compared to the other burials at Winterborne Kingston and to Iron Age cemeteries elsewhere in Dorset. Typically, bodies were buried with pottery and meat offerings and were respectfully laid to rest.

She also suffered a rib fracture caused by blunt force trauma about three weeks before her death. Healing had begun and appeared to be progressing well when she met her end. Cut marks on her cervical vertebrae indicate a fine bladed weapon had been inserted into her neck from behind, just under the base of the skull. This wound showed no signs of healing, so it was inflicted right before her death. The placement of the body suggests she was killed inside the pit, perhaps with her hands tied, and buried where she fell.

“All the significant facts we have found such as the problems with her spine, her tough working life, the major injury to her rib, the fact she could have come from elsewhere, and the way she was buried could be explained away in isolation,” [Dr. Martin Smith, Associate Professor in Forensic and Biological Anthropology at Bournemouth University,] said.

“But when you put them all together with her deposition face down on a platform of animal bone, the most plausible conclusion is that she has been the victim of a ritual killing. And of course, we found a large cut mark on her neck which could be the smoking gun,” he added.

The team highlight that as well as providing evidence of human sacrifice, being able to understand the life of the Iron Age woman has been important, both in terms of telling her individual story but also in understanding more about less-fortunate members of society in the past.

“The burials that get the most attention tend to be those of higher status, privileged people,” Dr Smith explained. “However, being able to humanise the story of this woman’s life has given us a valuable glimpse into the other side of Iron Age society. Behind every ancient burial we find is someone’s story waiting to be told.”

The findings have been published in The Antiquaries Journal and can be read here.

The long-lost head of a Deva statue from the Victory Gate of Angkor Thom has been discovered in a pit at the statue’s feet. Archaeologists from Cambodia’s national heritage authority APSARA unearthed the head in an excavation of the Victory Gate, where the body it was once attached to, the 23rd Deva, still stands guard along with 53 of its colleagues. The head is in comparatively good condition, considering its decapitation and burial. It is only missing its nose and its upper lip.

Established by King Jayavarman VII (r. 1181–1218) in the late 12th century, Angkor Thom was the last capital of the Khmer Empire. Jayavarman built 26-foot high walls surrounding the city with a wide moat around the perimeter. The walled city was entered and exited via five monumental gates, one at each of the cardinal directions, plus a fifth one, the Victory Gate, at the northeast. The extra gate was built to accommodate a pre-existing road that connected the Royal Palace to the East Baray (a man-made water reservoir built around 900 A.D.).

Visitors to the city crossed a causeway over the moat as they approached the gate. The causeway was flanked on both sides with statues of 54 devas and 54 demons, a reference to a Hindu myth of the Churning of the Ocean of Milk in which the opposing powers — gods and demons — worked together to make amrita, the nectar of life that would grant them immortality.

The current excavation at Victory Gate is the assessment phase of a larger restoration project to ensure the long-term stability of

Further excavation revealed that the foundations of the balustrades at the Victory Gate are still strong, as they had been repaired during the post-Angkor and French periods. However, stakeholders have suggested additional digging to assess the overall condition of the bridge and the previous repairs before planning future restoration work on the balustrade statues.

The discovery of the Deva statue head adds to the rich archaeological heritage of Angkor Thom and provides valuable insights into the history and craftsmanship of the ancient Khmer civilization.

The final report of the excavation of the exceptional La Robine Roman necropolis in Narbonne has been released and the large number of artifacts recovered from the graves have been formally handed over to the Narbo Via museum.

Between 2017 and 2020, Archaeologists from the National Institute for Preventive Archaeological Research (INRAP) excavated 1.2 acres less than half a mile east of the ancient city walls prior to the construction of new residential buildings. In 18 months of excavation of the necropolis after the first graves were discovered, a total of 1,430 burials and another 450 funerary structures from the Early Imperial period (1st-early 3rd century A.D.) were unearthed.

The architecture and contents of the necropolis were in an excellent state of conservation, preserved under a thick layer of silt from the Aude River. The condition, number and diversity of the structures and tombs make his burial ground a unique reference site for the funerary practices of Roman Gaul.

The necropolis was divided into funerary enclosures delineated by masonry walls and service roads for access. Cremation was the most common, with 1166 structures relating to the cremation of bodies and containing cinerary remains. Inhumation burial was found in 266 tombs, half of which contained the remains of children.

The Robine necropolis exceptionally documents the funeral rites carried out at the beginning of our era. This is the case for libation conduits, often destroyed by later developments: this device is identified here in half of the pyre tombs and a quarter of the secondary deposits. These tubes, often made up of pieces of amphorae, made it possible to introduce the offerings inside the tomb, as close as possible to the remains of the deceased, whose memory was thus perpetuated, particularly on the occasion of annual funeral festivals such as the Parentalia. Celebrated in Rome in February, they ended with the Feralia during which the family shared a meal near the tomb and offered a sacrifice in honor of the Mane gods. Evidence of these activities was found at La Robine, where several triclinia , that is to say masonry banquet beds that could accommodate meals organized by the family, were unearthed.

The evolution of the necropolis has been carefully studied. Inrap archaeologists have highlighted rearrangements by moving boundaries, grouping plots together or, on the contrary, by subdivisions and recompositions. From the middle of the 1st century, large masonry enclosures were created in the northern district on the site of several plots, and encroaching on circulation spaces. From the end of the 1st century, the increase in the number of burials required the extension of the necropolis and new masonry enclosures were created in several places in the funerary district. These plots closed by high walls could be decorated with marble funerary plaques bearing epitaphs. These, often found reused, provide information through onomastics about the population of this necropolis. Mainly made up of freedmen of Italian origin, it is representative of the plebs who animated the economic life of the city.

Analysis of the inhumation remains found that burial method was connected to the age of the deceased, with adults placed in wooden coffins and children placed in covered pits. Analysis of the residues in pyres and ossuary vessels found that the volume of cinerary remains varied significantly based on the type of enclosure, indicating different enclosures had different kinds of pyres.

Both cremation and inhumation burials contained drinking vessels, lamps and unguent/perfume bottles, sometimes deliberately broken or flipped upside down. Large quantities of grave goods were found placed in the burials intact: ceramic vases, amphorae, glass vessels, coins, jewelry, decorative objects made of bone, ivory and metal, amulets made of beads, animal teeth, bells and phallic pendants. The charred remains of food offerings are primarily plant material, including dates, figs, cereals and bread.

Excavations at the ancient site of Tharsa, near Kuyulu village in southeastern Turkey, have unearthed a tomb with two carved bull heads guarding the entrance. The bull heads are decorated with garlands and rosettes between the horns.

The bull head, called bucranium after the Greek for “ox skull,” was a common decorative motif in Classical religious and funerary architecture. They referred to an even more ancient practice of displaying the heads of sacrificed oxen on temple walls. In Imperial Rome, the bull sacrifice was connected to the worship of Cybele introduced from Asia Minor. The sacrificial ritual represented purification and rebirth into eternal life, and the carved bucrania performed the same function at the entrance to the tomb.

Tharsa was located on a major Roman road from Doliche to Samosata. It is marked on the Tabula Peutingeriana (Segmentum XI, 2), the Late Imperial map of the Roman state road network made in the 4th century based on a 1st century map made by Augustus’ right hand man and son-in-law Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa. The archaeological site today consists of two settlement mounds — the Big Mound and the Small Mound — and a large necropolis with tombs cut into the living rock. The tombs were in use from the 3rd century into the Byzantine era.

The first excavations of the rock tombs took place in 1999, but did not resume again until 2021 when a revitalization project cleared 10 acres of land. Sixty tombs have been unearthed since then, each individually carved with different designs and decorative motifs.

The new dig season began in April of this year and has uncovered another two tombs, one of which was the bulls’ head tomb. Like the other rock tombs in the necropolis, the bulls head tomb was carved down into the bedrock. A dozen steps were carved out descending into to the burial chamber which has three acrosolia (arched niches where bodies were placed). The carved bull heads are worn

A new drainage system is being built to prevent rainwater runoff from seeping into the graves and damaging them. Excavation and removal of soil and rocks from the graves will continue until September.