Mysterious cemetery unearthed in UK with females buried in crouched positions

A mysterious early medieval cemetery has been found in the UK’s Wales containing at least 70 graves along with animal bones and imported glass drinking vessels.

The bodies, which were buried around 1,500 years ago, were rested on their side facing south, while at least four were buried in a crouching position; signalling that they might have been the subject of a specific ceremony.

The site left several experts scratching their heads, with some pointing out how rare were such burial sites in Wales. “This is a really exciting discovery. Sites of this date are extremely rare in Wales and often do not preserve bone and artefacts,” said Dr Andy Seaman, a lecturer in early medieval archaeology at Cardiff University, in a statement to the Guardian.

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While such burial patterns have been observed in the past as well, Seaman highlighted that the proportion of those buried in crouched positions was unusually high on the burial site.

“Other similar sites have found bodies in crouched positions such as this, but considering the number of graves we have looked at so far, there seem to be a high proportion. This could be evidence of some sort of burial rite being carried out,” the expert noted.

Seaman also revealed that all those buried in crouched positions were females. “It may or may not be significant that thus far all of our crouched burials are female. We’re dealing with small samples so far. What we’ll be doing in the coming years is exploring that further.”

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However, the site was not used for just burial. Some metal working debris was also recovered from the site, along with glass drinking vessels possibly imported from Western France and animal bones showing evidence of butchery and cooking.

A small bone peg was also recovered from the site, leading archaeologists to believe that it could have been used as a marker in a game or as a tuning peg for a musical instrument.

“It’s a period of Welsh history about which we know comparatively little. It will help us expand and enhance our understanding of this post-Roman period,” Seaman was quoted as saying by The Guardian.

(With inputs from agencies)