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Rescue Excavation in Wales Recovers Skeletal Remains

Tuesday, November 19, 2019

Wales Shipwreck SkeletonsGLAMORGAN, WALES—BBC News reports that the bones of at least six people were recovered at the edge of an eroded cliff at Nash Point, a beach on the coast of South Wales, by a team of archaeologists from Cardiff University and Glamorgan-Gwent Archaeological Trust, climbing experts, geologists, and ecologists. Previous rescue missions at the cemetery site have retrieved bones radiocarbon dated to the late sixteenth or early seventeenth centuries. Bioarchaeologist Jacqui Mulville of Cardiff University said the newly discovered bones may have belonged to Tudor or Stuart-era men killed in a shipwreck. The remains of one younger person were found buried away from the others, who had been placed in graves dug side-by-side, and multiple men had been placed in a single grave. Analysis of the bones could help pinpoint when the men lived and who they were, Mulville added. Additional graves at the site were found empty because the bones had already washed out to sea. To read about a medieval castle in Wales whose footprint was exposed by a summer drought, go to "The Marks of Time."

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