Mass iron age burial on Ridgeway Hill

I have deliberately stayed off this story for a couple of days to let the noise die down. What is interesting is how much has been made from nothing. First and foremost, I'll start with the press release from Oxford Archaeology:

Archaeologists working on the Weymouth Relief Road have discovered a burial pit of dismembered skeletons thought to date between late Iron Age to early Roman times.

The extraordinary burial site was uncovered on Ridgeway Hill.

Oxford Archaeology project manager David Score said:

“We have counted 45 skulls so far, these are in one section of the pit, and several torsos and leg bones in separate sections of the pit.

“It is rare to find a burial site like this one. There are lots of different types of burial where skeletons may be aligned along a compass axis or in a crouched position, but to find something like this is just incredible.

“We’re still working on carefully recording and recovering all of the skeletons, which will be taken back to our offices in Oxford for detailed analysis, and trying to piece together the extraordinary story behind these remains.

The winner is Stefano Ambrogi at Reuters for his sober coverage of the finds. There is, of course, speculation about the date of the mass burial, but it is kept firmly within the bounds of what we know:

An ancient burial pit containing 45 severed skulls, that could be a mass war grave dating back to Roman times, has been found under a road being built for the 2012 British Olympics.

Honourable mentions for Maev Kennedy at the Guardian who points out that the grave could be the result of an epidemic and Faith Eckersall at the Daily Echo for mentioning that the victims were probably from a tribe called the Durotriges. On the other hand, there is the Daily Mail which doesn't really do nuance:

The Iron Age victims found in the ancient burial site are thought to have been slaughtered by the invading Romans in about AD43.

The piece also wins prizes for citing Mortimer Wheeler as if he were still alive. See also coverage at the BBC (which has video) the Telegraph, the Dorset Echo, 24dash.com and culture24. There is an interesting perspective of the story from the building industry at Contract Journal.

Image copyright Oxford Archaeology