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From This is Oxfordshire 22/10/2003
Sacrifices at the Clumps?
Archaeologists are investigating whether Wittenham Clumps was a centre for human sacrifice -- after the chopped-up remains of a woman were found in a grave at Castle Hill.
The skeletal remains of the women -- dating back to the Iron Age -- were part of a remarkable discovery by archaeologists of a shared grave containing skeletons of a child and a man. The man's remains are pictured.
Oxfordshire Archaeology project director Tim Allen said: "Each of the skeletons were buried separately, beneath each other."
Until further examinations and tests are undertaken, Mr Allen said they would not know if the infant, the man and the woman were related, or why they were buried together.
"But the multiple burial was very unusual," he said,"and the incomplete remains of a woman may indicate some sort of sacrifice. Someone had chopped up the body when she was freshly dead."
Mr Allen said a detailed analysis of the skeletons was required before they could draw conclusions, although he described the burial as very exciting.
"When the Romans arrived in Britain in the 1st century AD, they talked of sacrifice which could have been propaganda against the Britons -- but perhaps it was true. The jury is still out."
The dig unearthed six Iron Age skeletons, and four from the Roman period, during the two month-long excavations at the south Oxfordshire beauty spot.
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