An Anglo-Saxon Decapitation and Burial at Stonehenge

Pitts, M.; Bayliss, A.; McKinley, J.; Bylston, A.; Budd, P.; Evans, J.; Chenery, C.; Reynolds, A.; Semple, S.J.

Abstract

Most of a human skeleton excavated at Stonehenge in 1923, believed destroyed in the London bombing of 1941, was re-located in 1999. New study of the bones shows them to represent a man of Anglo-Saxon era (not Neolithic or Roman as previously suggested) aged 28-32, born in central southern England. He had been beheaded, probably with a sword. The historical context for this incident is discussed.

Citation

Pitts, M., Bayliss, A., McKinley, J., Bylston, A., Budd, P., Evans, J., …Semple, S. (2002). An Anglo-Saxon Decapitation and Burial at Stonehenge. Wiltshire archaeological and natural history magazine (1982), 95, 131-146

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Publication Date: Jan 1, 2002
• Deposit Date: Aug 5, 2009
• Publicly Available Date: Sep 2, 2009
• Journal: The Wiltshire archaeological and natural history magazine.
• Print ISSN: 0262-6608
• Publisher: Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Society
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 95
• Pages: 131-146
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1553014
• Publisher URL: http://www.wiltshireheritage.org.uk/society/