[Sharon]

Back in 2004 in York, England, UK, the remains of 80 people were discovered in the grounds of an 18th century mansion.

61 of the skeletons had been decapitated from behind with a very sharp, very fine blade. Their heads were buried with them but not in anatomically correct location.

Skulls were placed on the chest, between the legs and at their feet.

Few decapitated remains have been found in Roman cemeteries before.

Another unique feature of the York burials is that they were all men under the age of 45 and taller than average. Five of them had other wounds inflicted by a blade besides the cuts to the neck, jaw, clavicle and scapula associated with decapitation.

Two were stabbed in the abdomen; one was cut through the thigh muscles to the femur; two were parrying fractures to the forearm and hand, likely incurred trying to deflect a blow to the head.

Sixteen individuals had perimortem blunt force trauma to the cranium. Evidence of healed trauma was rife, including cranial, facial, dental and metacarpal fractures that were likely incurred by violence.

One skeleton’s pelvis showed signs of what may have been bite marks from a lion or bear.

Osteological evidence indicates they were trained to fight from a young age. Their right arms were consistently longer than their left, which means they’d been using weapons regularly since before they’d finished growing. Most them also showed signs of inadequate nutrition in childhood which they overcame to become healthy, strapping young men.

The single-sex grouping, young age, height and extensive evidence of violence indicated these were fighting men, but just what kind was unclear.

They may have been Gladiators or criminals sentenced to death
in the 2nd to the 4th century A.D


One example of the skeletons found


Detached skull


Vertebrae showing evidence of swift decapitation

Full in-depth article here:
http://www.thehistoryblog.com/archives/40375

[Bletch]

Amazing! Thanks for the great post Sharon!

[trean362]

Good post

[BBKF]

Forensics are amazing. It is incredible the amount of information we can find today. Thanks Sharon!

[Ninjavandal]

Very interesting. Thank you.

[StalkingYou]

That’s interesting about the right arm. I had no idea it stretched like that.

[meowder]

Thank you, Sharon! What an interesting story and amazing photos!

[vagabond]

Great post! Wonder if these were ancient Scots. Aren't they supposed to be, on average, the tallest folk?

[Sharon]

Originally Posted by vagabond ↗

Great post! Wonder if these were ancient Scots. Aren't they supposed to be, on average, the tallest folk?

My nickname is Scottish Dumpie after the robust hen bred in Fife but at 5'4" I'm pretty average

For research has shown that the tallest Britons now live south of the border.
Scots are, by and large, the shortest people in the UK, with the typical man averaging 5ft 8in.

This compares to 5ft 9in for Londoners.

What might add to the Scots’ frustration is that it hasn’t always been this way.

In fact, 200 years ago it was a completely different story, with the Scots towering over their English cousins

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/ar...lth-south.html

[radojota]

Cool post!