Posted on 07/28/2009 7:38:47 PM PDT by pissant
Naked, beheaded, and tangled, the bodies of 51 young men—their heads stacked neatly to the side—have been found in a thousand-year-old pit in southern England, according to carbon-dating results released earlier this month.
The mass burial took place at a time when the English were battling Viking invaders, say archaeologists who are now trying to verify the identity of the slain.
The dead are thought to have been war captives, possibly Vikings, whose heads were hacked off with swords or axes, according to excavation leader David Score of Oxford Archaeology, an archaeological-services company.
Announced in June, the pit discovery took place during an archaeological survey prior to road construction near the seaside town of Weymouth (map).
A Mere Flesh Wound
Many of the skeletons have deep cut marks to the skull and jaw as well as the neck. "The majority seem to have taken multiple blows," Score said.
The bodies show few signs of other trauma, suggesting the men were alive when beheaded.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.nationalgeographic.com ...
In those days the Brits knew how to handle illegals landing on their shores
Now the hordes are beheading them
I’m sure they were cooking the books then too.
Did he decide to re-re-re-retire again?
All innocent with the exception of the second one from the left. Something about her face scares me (could be that she looks like an ex-girlfriend...the bitch).
Reminds me of the Battle of Brunanburh, which I memorized when I studied Anglo Saxon poetry.
Aethelstan Cyning, eorla dryhtan, etc.
http://www.dot-domesday.me.uk/brunanburh.htm
Some things never change.
Of course, there were many years of “foreign” rule, when either Normans were kings, Saxons, or French. Rather than drive them out, they generally morphed from conquerors into the conquered as years of mixed marriages blended them in and finally they became Britons.
I suspect the explanation will show up in a future installment of Bernard Cornwell’s series of novels about Alfred the Great.
“Naked, beheaded, and tangled is no way to go through life, son.” [/Dean Wormer]
Not the time to lose one's head.
No.
That's not the way to get ahead in life.
No.
It's a shame he wasn't more headstrong.
Hmm.
He'll never be the head of a major corporation. Okay, that'll do.
Okay.
Were they in a duffel bag?
Bush’s fault....
I had heard that the Vikings Coach approved of his team’s execution. (joke stolen from the late John McKay)
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