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Written by DeadGirl
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Tuesday, 15 August 2006 |
11 August 2006
Norfolk Eastern Daily Press
Norfolk, England, UK--It is evidence of a terrible deed which has been hidden beneath the countryside as many centuries of seasons have rolled by. But now a crime committed more than 1500 years ago has finally come to light with the discovery of a burnt body at a Norfolk dig, presenting archaeologists with an intriguing murder mystery.
The jumbled adult skeleton was found in a Roman corn-drying oven and although foul play appears highly likely, the age, sex and cause of death of the victim are unknown.
The find was made during the annual summer excavations at Sedgeford, near Hunstanton, which this year have concentrated on the buried remains of a farm taken over by the Romans.
Volunteers from the Sedgeford Historical and Archaeological Research Project (SHARP), led by excavation director Dave Bonner, had been working on the site of a Roman agricultural processing plant - including the oven, which fulfilled a final and grisly task after going out of use.
Prior to the murder, grain had been brought there during the fourth century to be dried and stored before export. Corn-dryers, quite a common sight in the late Roman countryside, were high-tech systems of ovens, flues and rake-out pits designed to dry grain kept in large barns.
“A discovery like this is very rare but such things are not completely unknown,” said project director and Roman expert Dr Neil Faulkner.
“Bodies have occasionally been found dating from the end of the Roman period, which have been dropped down wells, hidden in cental-heating ducts or dumped in roadside ditches.
“The body in the Sedgeford corn-drying oven seems to be another example. Presumably they represent a breakdown of the old Roman order.
“Who was this person? We can only speculate. Perhaps a tax collector or the landlord's bailiff - a hate figure of the old regime.
“Or maybe this was just a casual crime, an old score settled, in a world where the chances of getting caught were less.”
If the remains are those of a Roman murder victim, the body was never found. The roof of the oven, which was just over four feet long and nearly two feet wide, subsequently collapsed and and the area became covered over.
Most of the skeleton has now been found, apart from the lower legs, which may have been folded under the body.
“It's fairly consistent with being pushed in,” said human remains supervisor Zannah Baldry. “It's very jumbled, especially in the middle. A lot of the bone has been broken and moved about.
“It gets fragmented when it's been burned but it looks like it may have been disturbed during the burning - to move the bones about, which would make sense if you were adding more fuel in or generally moving it around to make it burn more easily.
“It's not a normal cremation and if it was intended as a cremation then it wasn't properly done. It's very intriguing.”
The skeleton will now be subjected to further analysis by a cremation expert and human remains specialists in a bid to find out more and bone samples will be sent away for radiocarbon dating.
It is the latest in a series of fascinating discoveries by SHARP, which was launched in 1996 with the aim of building up a complete history of the village.
Earlier finds have included more than 270 skeletons buried in a Saxon cemetery, a hoard of Iron Age gold coins and the long-lost end of a torc.
The 2006 season continues until Friday, August 18 and the main site is open to visitors from 11am to 4pm every day except Saturdays. Site tours are held at 3.30pm on Fridays.
http://new.edp24.co.uk/content/news/story.aspx?brand=EDPOnline&category=News&tBrand=edponline&tCategory=news&itemid=NOED11%20Aug%202006%2013%3A03%3A49%3A920 |
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