Fear of zombies led terrified Medieval villagers to burn and mutilate corpses in English countryside, say experts after discovering 137 bones in a pit
Corpses were dumped in pits to stop the undead rising from their graves
MEDIEVAL Brits were so terrified of a potential zombie invasion that they mutilated corpses to stop them rising from the grave, experts have claimed.
A study of human bones excavated from a long-deserted village in North Yorkshire suggests our ancestors were worried about the walking dead.
A total of 137 bones were found in a pit in Wharram Percy with many of them appearing to have been burned and mutilated.
Theories that the strange treatment of the bodies was down to the dead people being outsiders or that the remains were cannibalised by starving villages have been discounted by experts.
Instead the finds appear to represent the first good archaeological evidence of practices aimed at stopping corpses rising from their graves and menacing the living.
Folklore in the Middle Ages suggested people could sometimes rise from the dead, roam their local area, spread disease and violently assault those who encountered them.
The undead were commonly thought to be the result of a lingering malevolent life-force in individuals who had committed evil deeds or caused animosity when they were alive.
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Medieval writers described various ways of dealing with the living dead, including digging up the offending bodies, decapitating and dismembering them and burning the pieces in a fire.
A team from government heritage agency Historic England and the University of Southampton studied 137 bones found in the village, representing the mixed remains of at least 10 people.
They found many bones had knife marks suggesting the corpses had been decapitated and dismembered, while there was also evidence of burning body parts and deliberate breaking of bones after death.
The team, who published their findings in the Journal of Archaeological Science Reports, believe action to stop the dead rising is the explanation that best fits the evidence.
Analysis of teeth, which points to the geology of the area an individual was living when their teeth formed in childhood, suggests the people grew up near to where they were buried - discounting the theory they were outsiders.
Alistair Pike, professor of archaeological sciences at the University of Southampton, said: "This was surprising to us as we first wondered if the unusual treatment of the bodies might relate to their being from further afield rather than local."
The experts also ruled out the theory the remains had been cannibalised by starving villages suffering from the famines which were common in medieval times.
In cannibalism, knife marks on bones tend to cluster around major muscle attachments or large joints, but at Wharram Percy they were mainly in the head and neck area, researchers said.
Simon Mays, human skeletal biologist at Historic England, said: "The idea that the Wharram Percy bones are the remains of corpses burnt and dismembered to stop them walking from their graves seems to fit the evidence best.
"If we are right, then this is the first good archaeological evidence we have for this practice.
"It shows us a dark side of medieval beliefs and provides a graphic reminder of how different the medieval view of the world was from our own."
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