Bodies of Evidence

Case studies

Witch Burial

In 1996, archaeologists discovered the skeleton of a woman, wearing a lead necklace, lying in a contorted position in a grave in the east Midlands, England. Was this the ritual murder of a woman suspected of being a witch?

That was one theory. But radiocarbon dating showed that the woman had lived around 2,400 years ago, in the Middle Iron Age, long before the Christian era when witches were seen as a threat.

At first, the body looked as if the woman had been buried alive, gasping for breath. Then a medical expert suggested that the body had probably been buried 12-36 hours after death, when rigoer mortis had already set it in that position.

The archaeologists' conclusion? Far from being an execution, this was probably the burial of a respected woman whose status was too high for her remains to be disposed of in the usual Iron Age way – by cremation or putting the body in the open countryside to be eaten by wild animals. Her contorted position was probably the result of sudden death, and her body may have been found after rigor mortis had set in.

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The Romanovs

Vladimir Lenin

Taung Child

St Clare

The Inuit Women

Witch burial

Barber surgeon

Slave grave

Turin shroud

The disappeared

Medieval coffins