CHILLYSTORIES.COM
wEIRD nEWS hEADLINES
Friday June 9, 2000
LONDON (Reuters) - The skeleton of a man executed up to 2,100 years ago at Stonehenge, Britain's greatest prehistoric monument, was shown in public for the first time Friday.
The bones, which date from between 100 BC and 1000 AD, were first unearthed in 1923 and stored in London, where they were thought to have been destroyed in the Nazi Blitz in 1941, according to government conservation body, English Heritage.
The skeleton was found to have survived by author Mike Pitts during research for a book about the giant stone circle in western England.
After using modern forensic techniques, scientists have concluded that the man did not die of natural causes as had been thought but was the victim of an execution. .
Archaeologist Jacqueline McKinley said the man, who was about 35, died from violent beheading. There is a small nick on the lower jaw and a cut on the fourth neck vertebra, indicating he was beheaded by a sharp sword.
"Why he was executed is not known," English Heritage said. "But it is possible that he was singled out for special punishment, as Stonehenge clearly represents a dramatic and important site for the event and the man's burial."
Scientists are using carbon-dating techniques to try to find out exactly when the man died. It is only the fourth complete skeleton to have been found at Stonehenge, a World Heritage Site built between 3050 BC and 1600 BC.
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