Mystery over mass grave of 86 skeletons in Wales from just after Romans left Britain 1,600 years ago with more women than men found and people from as far away as Spain
- Eighty-six skeletons have been found clustered beneath a Welsh college
- Experts have discovered peculiar findings about their age, sex and nationality
- They were likely buried in the early medieval period after the Romans left Britain
By Sophie Law and Luke Andrews For Mailonline
Published: 11:45 EDT, 3 August 2019 | Updated: 18:59 EDT, 3 August 2019
A mass grave of skeletons belonging to people from all over the world have been discovered buried beneath a Welsh college.
The remains of 86 people lay concealed in the ground for more than 1,600 years before they were unearthed during building work at Coleg Menai’s Pencraig Campus in Angelsey.
Experts are now attempting to unravel the mystery surrounding the cemetery after they made peculiar findings about the bodies’ age, gender and nationality.
The remains of 86 people lay concealed in the ground for more than a thousand years before they were unearthed during building work at Coleg Menai’s Pencraig Campus in Angelsey
Dating back to just after the Romans left Britain, archaeologists discovered that the human remains belonged to people who had come from all over Europe to lay to rest in rural Wales.
From Spain to Scandinavia, individuals would have had to travel a great distance before they were buried underneath the Welsh college.
Dr Irene Garcia Rovira told Wales Online: ‘What we do know from the isotope analyses is that some individuals came from western Britain, where the border is today between England and Wales, a couple from Scandinavia and a couple from Mediterranean places like Spain.’
After studying the skeletons, Experts were puzzled to find the mass grave included more females than males.
Dating back almost 1,600 years, archaeologists discovered that the human remains belonged to people who had come from all over Europe to lay to rest in rural Wales
And they also discovered that the people had lived into their mid forties, which is considered to be relatively long for that period of time.
‘It is old for the period, its a will lived life’, Dr Rovira told the publication.
As many as 34 skeletons were found directly underneath college, when work on its £20million building programme began, while a further 54 were unearthed when a link road was built next to the college between the town and the A55.
The remains were discovered buried alongside Roman artifacts, including a 2nd century AD Roman coin as well as a Celtic brooch.
They also discovered that the people lived into their mid forties, which is considered to be relatively long for that period of time
The remains were discovered buried alongside Roman artifacts, including a 2nd century AD Roman coin as well as a Celtic brooch
Dr Rovira, said: ‘It could be that it just happened to be on the soil at the time of the burial and fell into the grave, or it could have been purposely placed with her, as some sort of family hairloom.
The 4th to 8th century, around the time these skeletons are believed to have been buried, was a period of great political turmoil in Britain.
In AD410, faced with invaders on the continent, the Roman Emperor Honorius is said to have told Britain to ‘look to its own defences’.
He pulled out the legions abandoning the island and leaving the romanised country in Chaos.
Experts were puzzled to find the mass grave included more females than males
Angles, Saxons and Jutes then began landing along the coast, sailing over the north sea, and by AD500 had penetrated deep into Britain.
There is likely to have been regular conflict as they competed with the Romano-British for land and resources.
It is also the time that the early medieval kingdoms of Mercia, Wessex and Northumbria, among others, begin to emerge.
A Roman coin was also found with the human remains which was found by archaeologists
Anglesey is said to have passed under the influence of Dublin and received Irish settlers, which are today evidenced in round house foundations left on the island.
Following a conflict with Irish rulers however, according to traditional tales, the island is then said to have headed in its own direction.
Talking about the discovery, college CEO Dafydd Evans said it was ‘extraordinary’.
‘Once the experts have completed their work, the college will be working in partnership with Anglesey County Council so that these discoveries can be seen by the public at the nearby Oriel Ynys Mon gallery and museum,’ he said.
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