An exceptionally tall young man who survived having a hole deliberately cut into his skull is among the remains discovered in an early medieval mass grave near Cambridge, England. The man, who stood around 6 foot 5 inches tall, underwent trepanation before eventually being thrown face down into a pit containing the complete and dismembered remains of at least ten people.
The discovery, announced earlier this year by the University of Cambridge, was made at Wandlebury Country Park, about three miles south of Cambridge, during a training excavation involving archaeology students. Initial radiocarbon dating suggests that some of the remains may belong to the ninth century, when the region became a frontier between Anglo-Saxon and Viking-controlled territories.
The excavation, led by Dr Oscar Aldred of the Cambridge Archaeological Unit (CAU), uncovered a pit measuring approximately four metres by one metre just outside the earthworks of Wandlebury’s Iron Age hillfort. The remains represent at least ten individuals, based on the number of skulls recovered.
Among the most unusual discoveries was the complete skeleton of a man aged between 17 and 24. At approximately 6 foot 5 inches tall, he would have been exceptionally tall compared with other men living in early medieval England.
His skeleton may also provide an explanation for his unusual height. Researchers believe he could have suffered from a growth condition associated with the pituitary gland.
Even more striking is a large oval opening, about three centimetres across, in the back left side of his skull. The opening was created through trepanation, a surgical practice in which part of the skull is deliberately perforated or removed.
Evidence of healing around the opening shows that the young man survived the procedure. “The individual may have had a tumour that affected their pituitary gland and caused an excess of growth hormones,” said Dr Trish Biers, curator of the Duckworth Collections at the University of Cambridge, where the remains have been taken for further analysis. “We can see this in the unique characteristics in the long shafts of their limb bones and elsewhere on the skeleton.”
Trepanation has been practised in different societies for thousands of years. Researchers have suggested that the procedure could have been used to treat various conditions, including head injuries, seizures and severe headaches.
In this case, the man’s possible growth condition could potentially have caused pressure within his skull. “Such a condition in the brain would have led to increased pressure in the skull, causing headaches that the trepanning may have been an attempt to alleviate. Not uncommon with head trauma today,” Biers added.
Whatever circumstances led to the operation, the man’s eventual fate appears to have been violent. His body was found face down in the burial pit alongside an unusual mixture of complete skeletons and dismembered human remains.
Four complete skeletons were discovered in the pit, some positioned in ways that suggest they may have been tied up. Archaeologists also uncovered severed heads, individual ribs and pelvises, and groups of similar body parts deposited together, including what researchers describe as a “stack of legs.”
At least one person had clearly been decapitated, with chop marks visible on the jaw. Several other individuals show injuries consistent with violence.
The unusual combination has made interpreting the site difficult. The dead could have been casualties of fighting, victims of execution or perhaps people who suffered different forms of violence before their remains were eventually buried together.
“Those buried could have been recipients of corporal punishment, and that may be connected to Wandlebury as a sacred or well-known meeting place,” Aldred said. “It may be that some of the disarticulated body parts had previously been displayed as trophies, and were then gathered up and interred with the executed or otherwise slaughtered individuals. We don’t see much evidence for the deliberate chopping up of some of these body parts, so they may have been in a state of decomposition and literally falling apart when they went into the pit.”
The location itself could prove important. Although Wandlebury’s surviving banks and ditches originated as an Iron Age hillfort roughly a millennium earlier, archaeologists believe the prominent site would still have been widely known during the early medieval period and may have functioned as a meeting place.
Establishing exactly when the people died could help researchers understand what happened to them. Cambridge was controlled by the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Mercia in the late eighth century. During the following century, however, Viking armies transformed the political landscape of eastern England. East Anglia came under Viking rule, while part of the Great Army spent the winter of 874–875 near Cambridge.
Cambridgeshire subsequently became part of the area under Viking control that would become known as the Danelaw, remaining contested as Anglo-Saxon rulers sought to regain territory during the late ninth and early tenth centuries.
Initial radiocarbon analysis of the exceptionally tall man’s skeleton produced a date range of AD 772–891 at 85% probability. Further dating will be needed to establish a more precise chronology for the burial and determine whether it can be connected with the conflicts of the Viking Age.
“Cambridgeshire was a frontier zone between Mercia and East Anglia, and the continual wars between Saxons and Vikings as they clashed over territory across many decades,” said Aldred. “We suspect the pit may relate to these conflicts.”
Researchers are now planning further analysis of the remains, including ancient DNA and isotope studies. These could provide information about the people’s health, ancestry and biological relationships, and potentially help determine whether those buried at Wandlebury had Viking or Anglo-Saxon origins.
Archaeologists will also attempt to match some of the disarticulated bones together, which could provide a clearer picture of how many people were deposited in the pit and what happened to their bodies before burial.
Historic England, which is supporting the excavation, has commissioned a new geophysical survey around the site. Researchers hope this will reveal further archaeological features and provide more context for the mass grave.
For now, the identity of the exceptionally tall young man, why he underwent trepanation and how he came to be thrown into the pit remain unknown. Further analysis of his skeleton and the other remains may reveal whether their deaths were connected to the warfare and political upheaval that transformed this part of early medieval England.
Top Image: Photo credit: Cambridge Archaeological Unit/David Matzliach
An exceptionally tall young man who survived having a hole deliberately cut into his skull is among the remains discovered in an early medieval mass grave near Cambridge, England. The man, who stood around 6 foot 5 inches tall, underwent trepanation before eventually being thrown face down into a pit containing the complete and dismembered remains of at least ten people.
The discovery, announced earlier this year by the University of Cambridge, was made at Wandlebury Country Park, about three miles south of Cambridge, during a training excavation involving archaeology students. Initial radiocarbon dating suggests that some of the remains may belong to the ninth century, when the region became a frontier between Anglo-Saxon and Viking-controlled territories.
The excavation, led by Dr Oscar Aldred of the Cambridge Archaeological Unit (CAU), uncovered a pit measuring approximately four metres by one metre just outside the earthworks of Wandlebury’s Iron Age hillfort. The remains represent at least ten individuals, based on the number of skulls recovered.
An exceptionally tall medieval man
Among the most unusual discoveries was the complete skeleton of a man aged between 17 and 24. At approximately 6 foot 5 inches tall, he would have been exceptionally tall compared with other men living in early medieval England.
His skeleton may also provide an explanation for his unusual height. Researchers believe he could have suffered from a growth condition associated with the pituitary gland.
Even more striking is a large oval opening, about three centimetres across, in the back left side of his skull. The opening was created through trepanation, a surgical practice in which part of the skull is deliberately perforated or removed.
Evidence of healing around the opening shows that the young man survived the procedure. “The individual may have had a tumour that affected their pituitary gland and caused an excess of growth hormones,” said Dr Trish Biers, curator of the Duckworth Collections at the University of Cambridge, where the remains have been taken for further analysis. “We can see this in the unique characteristics in the long shafts of their limb bones and elsewhere on the skeleton.”
Trepanation has been practised in different societies for thousands of years. Researchers have suggested that the procedure could have been used to treat various conditions, including head injuries, seizures and severe headaches.
In this case, the man’s possible growth condition could potentially have caused pressure within his skull. “Such a condition in the brain would have led to increased pressure in the skull, causing headaches that the trepanning may have been an attempt to alleviate. Not uncommon with head trauma today,” Biers added.
Whatever circumstances led to the operation, the man’s eventual fate appears to have been violent. His body was found face down in the burial pit alongside an unusual mixture of complete skeletons and dismembered human remains.
A mysterious medieval mass grave
Four complete skeletons were discovered in the pit, some positioned in ways that suggest they may have been tied up. Archaeologists also uncovered severed heads, individual ribs and pelvises, and groups of similar body parts deposited together, including what researchers describe as a “stack of legs.”
At least one person had clearly been decapitated, with chop marks visible on the jaw. Several other individuals show injuries consistent with violence.
The unusual combination has made interpreting the site difficult. The dead could have been casualties of fighting, victims of execution or perhaps people who suffered different forms of violence before their remains were eventually buried together.
“Those buried could have been recipients of corporal punishment, and that may be connected to Wandlebury as a sacred or well-known meeting place,” Aldred said. “It may be that some of the disarticulated body parts had previously been displayed as trophies, and were then gathered up and interred with the executed or otherwise slaughtered individuals. We don’t see much evidence for the deliberate chopping up of some of these body parts, so they may have been in a state of decomposition and literally falling apart when they went into the pit.”
The location itself could prove important. Although Wandlebury’s surviving banks and ditches originated as an Iron Age hillfort roughly a millennium earlier, archaeologists believe the prominent site would still have been widely known during the early medieval period and may have functioned as a meeting place.
Saxons, Vikings and a contested frontier
Establishing exactly when the people died could help researchers understand what happened to them. Cambridge was controlled by the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Mercia in the late eighth century. During the following century, however, Viking armies transformed the political landscape of eastern England. East Anglia came under Viking rule, while part of the Great Army spent the winter of 874–875 near Cambridge.
Cambridgeshire subsequently became part of the area under Viking control that would become known as the Danelaw, remaining contested as Anglo-Saxon rulers sought to regain territory during the late ninth and early tenth centuries.
Initial radiocarbon analysis of the exceptionally tall man’s skeleton produced a date range of AD 772–891 at 85% probability. Further dating will be needed to establish a more precise chronology for the burial and determine whether it can be connected with the conflicts of the Viking Age.
“Cambridgeshire was a frontier zone between Mercia and East Anglia, and the continual wars between Saxons and Vikings as they clashed over territory across many decades,” said Aldred. “We suspect the pit may relate to these conflicts.”
Researchers are now planning further analysis of the remains, including ancient DNA and isotope studies. These could provide information about the people’s health, ancestry and biological relationships, and potentially help determine whether those buried at Wandlebury had Viking or Anglo-Saxon origins.
Archaeologists will also attempt to match some of the disarticulated bones together, which could provide a clearer picture of how many people were deposited in the pit and what happened to their bodies before burial.
Historic England, which is supporting the excavation, has commissioned a new geophysical survey around the site. Researchers hope this will reveal further archaeological features and provide more context for the mass grave.
For now, the identity of the exceptionally tall young man, why he underwent trepanation and how he came to be thrown into the pit remain unknown. Further analysis of his skeleton and the other remains may reveal whether their deaths were connected to the warfare and political upheaval that transformed this part of early medieval England.
Top Image: Photo credit: Cambridge Archaeological Unit/David Matzliach
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