HEADACHE
Remains of medieval man who had his skull shattered found buried in hidden ‘Hall of Bones’ under UK church
THE REMAINS of a medieval man who suffered a gruesome death have been found under a church in Northamptonshire.
The man's skull, believed to be around 700 years old, shows signs of a violent blow to the head before his corpse was tossed into a mysterious burial crypt at the still active parish building.
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The Holy Trinity Church in the small town of Rothwell houses the corpses of 2,500 ancient men, women and children in a mysterious "hall of bones".
Remains dating from the mid 13th Century are stacked metres high in a dark underground crypt buried deep under the sacred building.
They were re-discovered in the 17th Century, though scientists are only just beginning to study the mountain of bones.
In a new study, experts examined five skulls lined on shelves within the crypt, which measures 4.5 by 9 metres – about half the size of the average house.
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One skull shows signs of serious fracture, suggesting a violent death – but scientists say it's unlikely a massacre took place at the site.
"We picked it out to try to redress some of the stories... suggesting when you find a lot of skeletal remains it is because there has been some sort of massacre," University of Sheffield scientist Dr Lizzy Craig-Atkins told the .
"But the fact there was only one in the study who suffered violence shows... there is a representative selection of bones you would find from any medieval community."
Bones in the room are arranged in two central stacks, while skulls line shelves on the north and south walls.
They were probably put there deliberately by Medieval people to form a grisly prayer spot.
Like when people visit graves today, ancient folk went to the crypt to have their confessions heard, and to contemplate their own mortality.
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It's buried deep underground, and you can only access it via a very narrow tunnel.
Like most of the bones housed there, Dr Craig-Atkins believes the smashed skull may have been buried in the church's graveyard and later moved to the crypt.
Most of the bones date from the mid-1200s to the mid-1300s, though remains from as recent as 1900 have been found there.
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- The bones - thought to date back over 4,000 years - were found in a peat bog on White Horse Hill alongside a number of remarkable items, including around 150 beads, an animal pelt, a delicate bracelet and a woven bag.
- The picturesque National Park's archaeologists were stunned to uncover the grave, which was described at the time as one of the most significant historical finds ever at the site.
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- Archaeologists believe some may have been victims of ritual human sacrifice.
- The skeletons are thought to be about 3,000 years old.
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- Cotswold Archaeology removed the items for forensic examination, which meant Thames Water could start laying the six-kilometre pipe.
According to local legend, the crypt was lost for centuries before it was rediscovered by a clumsy gravedigger.
They reportedly fell through a window and plummeted through the church floor before landing among the piles of bodies in utter darkness.
Last year, the crypt's interior was scanned to produce a digital reconstruction that's now available on YouTube.
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Why do you think the bones were placed in the crypt? Let us know in the comments!
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