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Remains of Possible Executed Man Found in England

Friday, June 8, 2018

England executed manWEST SUSSEX, ENGLAND—BBC News reports that a well-preserved skeleton dating to the early eleventh century was unearthed in southeast England during an investigation ahead of the construction of a wind farm. The man, who died sometime between the ages of 25 and 35, had been buried without a coffin and on his own, rather than in a Christian cemetery, as would have been expected. Two cut marks found on the vertebrae in his neck would have been fatal, according to Jim Stevenson of Archaeology South East. He thinks the man was executed during the later Anglo-Saxon period. The man’s bones also show evidence of a healed fracture on his left arm, and stress on the vertebrae from repeated bending and twisting motions. For more on the Anglo-Saxon period in England, go to “Letter From England: Stronghold of the Kings in the North.”

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