Extreme Justice: Decapitations and Prone Burials in Three Late Roman Cemeteries at Knobb's Farm, Cambridgeshire

Excavations at Knobb's Farm, Somersham, Cambridgeshire, uncovered three small late Roman cemeteries, positioned at the edge of a farming settlement. The 52 burials found included 17 decapitated bodies and 13 prone burials – far higher than the British average. In two cases, cut marks show decap...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inBritannia (Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies) Vol. 52; pp. 119 - 173
Main Authors Wiseman, Rob, Neil, Benjamin, Mazzilli, Francesca
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Cambridge, UK Cambridge University Press 01.11.2021
Subjects
3rd century
4th century
Archaeology
Capital punishment
Cemeteries
Iron Age
United Kingdom > UK
judicial execution
Roman cemetery
decapitation
Roman settlement
prone burial
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Summary:Excavations at Knobb's Farm, Somersham, Cambridgeshire, uncovered three small late Roman cemeteries, positioned at the edge of a farming settlement. The 52 burials found included 17 decapitated bodies and 13 prone burials – far higher than the British average. In two cases, cut marks show decapitation to have been the mechanism of death, and cuts on two other bodies indicate they experienced extreme violence. We conclude that the decapitations were the result of judicial execution. The significance of the prone burials is less clear, but it is demonstrably related to decapitation. Supplementary material is available online (https://doi.org/10.1017/S0068113X21000064) and comprises a detailed osteological report and skeleton catalogue, specialist reports, DNA and isotopic analyses, and a complete description of the settlement's development.
ISSN:0068-113X
1753-5352
DOI:10.1017/S0068113X21000064