A crew working on a high-speed rail project outside a major metropolis dug up around 40 decapitated corpses. Was this the gruesome dumping site of a serial killer? As it turned out, it was a historic find from the Roman era.
Rail crew unearths 40 decapitated corpses from Roman times
In the United Kingdom, an hour northwest of London, a high-speed rail project was underway. While digging during the construction of the HS2 project, workers unearthed a gruesome discovery. Dozens of decapitated corpses among hundreds of skeletons.
There were around forty such headless skeletons, with the skulls placed between their legs or feet, FOX reported.
Experts were called in, and archaeologists determined that these remains were some 2,000 years old. The site itself was determined to be an ancient Roman village.
Archaeological investigation launched
An archaeological excavation was launched involving a team of over 50 archaeologists in 2021. More than 400 remains were found, with around 10%, about 40, of them having been decapitated.
In addition, archaeologists uncovered numerous artifacts and hundreds of ancient coins. Among the artifacts were an old lead die, ancient pottery, and an assortment of tools and ornaments.
Archaeologists believe the hundreds of coins discovered suggest that the town was a place of “trade and commerce.” The ancient village was situated along a defunct road between the former Roman cities of Verulamium, now St. Albans, and Corinium Dobunnorum, now Cirencester.
Why so many beheadings?
Experts were unclear on why these particular persons had been decapitated.
“One interpretation of this burial practice is that it could be the burial of criminals or a type of outcast, although decapitation is well-known elsewhere and appears to have been a normal, albeit marginal, burial rite during the late Roman period,” officials from the HS2 said in a statement.
