Bronze Age Infant's skull unearthed at School Dig
Submitted by PaulM on Wednesday, 19 February 2003 Page Views: 1439
Neolithic and Bronze AgeA fragment of an infant’s skull has been found near pig bones on a primary school playing field in Winnersh earmarked for a housing development reports Get Wokingham.Experts believe the skull could be part of a much wider Bronze Age burial ground.
The unusual historical relic surprised archaeologists who say it is unusual to find human and animal bones together.
Police and the coroner’s office have not been officially informed of the find which was made in February last year but details have only now been made public.
Initially it was thought that the remains were more than 100 years old but Carbon 14 dating is being used to determine the exact date, but a Bronze Age burial site found in the 1960s, just 100 yards away, suggests it could be a small satellite addition to the central site.
Now Kev Beachus, senior archaeologist at BABTIE, Wokingham District Council’s highways consultants which surveys all large building applications, says the top-soil will have to be stripped off to search for the rest of the skeleton to comply with the letter of the law.
There is no evidence of foul play and a thickening of the two-inch piece of skull suggests that death could have been caused by meningitis, it is thought.
Mr Beachus, who is unable to speculate on how the bone came to rest with the pig remains, said too little was known about Bronze Age settlements to be entirely sure of what else could be found.
Not much is known about childhood Bronze Age diseases, but Mr Beachus believes meningitis was common and could claim the lives of as many as a dozen children in an outbreak.
When the topsoil is peeled off, which could take about six weeks, the site will be opened to the public for one day only.
The news was welcomed by Winnersh Primary School headteacher Howard Penny, who said the discovery would be used as an educational aid, and added that he welcomed anything that might allow the school to hang on to its field a little longer!
For the full story see Get Wokingham.
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