Around 40 beheaded skeletons are among 425 bodies exhumed by HS2 archaeologists after being found in a large Roman cemetery.
In several instances, after the head had been removed, it had been placed between the legs or next to the feet.
The 50-strong team working alongside construction of the high-speed railway, uncovered the remains at the cemetery in Fleet Marston near Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, which is along the the HS2 route.
Experts said all the remains would be ‘treated with dignity, care and respect’
HS2 Ltd said it was believed some of the people buried may have been “criminals or a type of outcast”, although decapitation was a “normal, albeit marginal” part of burial during the late Roman period, which is towards the end of 410 AD.
The cemetery is the largest of its kind in Buckinghamshire.
The bodies are being held in storage for further analysis.
HS2 is not required to rebury them, unlike those exhumed from Christian grounds.
The archaeologists also discovered more than 1,200 coins…
