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Brutalised, Bound and Bled: A Case of Later Iron Age Human Sacrifice from Winterborne Kingston, Dorset.

Russell, M., Smith, M., Hambleton, E., Cheetham, P. and Tamminen, H., 2024. Brutalised, Bound and Bled: A Case of Later Iron Age Human Sacrifice from Winterborne Kingston, Dorset. Antiquaries Journal. (In Press)

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DOI: 10.1017/S0003581524000143

Abstract

Although the practice of human sacrifice in the British Iron Age is mentioned by multiple authors, both ancient and modern, physical proof of such activity in the archaeological record is comparatively rare. At Winterborne Kingston, in Dorset, the skeletal remains of a young adult female found face down near the base of a cylindrical storage pit provides clear evidence of violent death in the later Iron Age. Analysis of the skeleton suggests an individual who led a hard-working life and who, having suffered an act of violence a few weeks before death, was killed, possibly with her hands tied, by a blade incision to the neck. Placement of the body further suggests that killing was enacted within the pit, execution as spectacle forming the final act in a larger ceremony involving the creation of an animal bone stack or platform.

Item Type:Article
ISSN:0003-5815
Uncontrolled Keywords:prehistory; prehistoric society; osteology; skeletal trauma; deathways; animal and human sacrifice; ritual deposition
Group:Faculty of Science & Technology
ID Code:39848
Deposited By: Symplectic RT2
Deposited On:16 May 2024 08:03
Last Modified:16 May 2024 08:03

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