Decapitated Viking Skeletons found near Weymouth
The Burial Pit
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In June 2009 excavations in advance of the Weymouth Relief Road discovered a burial pit containing a large number of dismembered skeletons.
Fifty-one decapitated skulls were found in one distinct area of the pit and bodies were found randomly placed in another section of the pit.
Initially, the burials were believed to date to between the late Iron Age and the early Roman Period.
(see press release for 11 June 2009)
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click on map to enlarge
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C14 dating
However, C14 dating gave a date in the Late Saxon Period of between AD 890 and 1030.
The skeletons all appeared to male, and the majority aged between late teens and c. 25 years old, with a few older individuals. As a group, they were of tall and robust stature. Most of the skulls showed evidence of multiple blows to the vertebrae suggestive of sword blows.
The absence of finds associated with clothing, suggested that the bodies may have been naked when they were thrown into the pit.
The pit itself appears to be a re-used earlier quarry pit, rather than a pit dug specially for the occasion.
(see Ridgeway Burial Pit)
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