The discovery supports long-dismissed accounts by ancient Greek and Roman authors, who described Celtic tribes practicing divination through bloodshed. According to Bournemouth University, where the excavation is based, the victims were likely killed in front of an audience, in what experts are calling a “theatrical” form of execution.
Winterborne Kingston has been under excavation by Bournemouth University for over 15 years, offering deep insight into the lives of the Durotriges, a native tribe of southern Britain. While the site has already yielded substantial information about domestic life before and after the Roman invasion, this latest discovery marks a turning point in understanding the spiritual or ritualistic aspects of Iron Age society.
A Staged Death on Animal Bones
The most striking find was that of a young woman, aged between 25 and 30, whose skeleton was discovered face down on an artificially prepared platform made from animal bones. Her throat had been cut, and she showed signs of a rib injury sustained weeks before her death. According to Daily Mail, archaeologists believe she was deliberately killed as part of a ceremonial act.
Dr Miles Russell, who leads the project at Bournemouth University, explained to the same source, “We’re seeing some individual who’s been executed in front of an audience. It’s been done in a very theatrical way.” Two other skeletons, excavated in the same location during earlier digs, share similar burial methods and injuries, suggesting a pattern of sacrificial killings rather than isolated acts of violence.
The remains were dated to between 100 and 50 BC, well before the Roman annexation of Britain. Researchers found the bodies placed on a flat surface built from animal bones at the base of a pit, a feature interpreted as part of the ritual staging.
Sacrificial Practices Described by Classical Sources
Descriptions of such rituals have long existed in the writings of Roman and Greek historians, but were often discounted as imperial slander. Diodorus Siculus, a Greek historian from the 1st century BC, claimed that Celtic tribes used stabbing as a method of divination, interpreting the victim’s death throes and blood flow to predict the future.
Dr Russell points out that the Romans criticized these practices while engaging in their own public spectacles of violence, calling the stance “fantastically hypocritical.” He adds, “It’s quite clear that there is actual evidence of human sacrifice.”
Until now, the prevailing academic view held that such texts were exaggerated or biased. But the Dorset findings, including consistent burial setups, deliberate violence, and animal offerings, suggest a systematic ritual practice, offering physical validation of these early written sources.
Animal Offerings and Roman-Style Burial Hint at Spiritual Blending
Among the most revealing graves found during the excavation was one containing the remains of two hunting dogs, believed to have been sacrificed deliberately. Their bodies were discovered side by side, and both had died at the same time. According to Bournemouth University, their positioning and the absence of any signs of natural death strongly suggest they were offered as part of a ritual, despite the high value placed on such animals in Iron Age and Roman society.
Dogs held a special role in Iron Age Britain, not only as companions but as prestigious exports for the Roman elite. Their inclusion in a grave signals a religious or symbolic function, possibly meant to accompany the deceased into the afterlife or to act as a divine offering.
Another grave at the site featured a male skeleton buried in a distinctly Roman fashion: his arms were folded across his chest, and iron nails scattered around the body indicated the use of a coffin. As Paul Cheetham, co-director of the excavation, explained through Bournemouth University, this style represents a clear shift in burial custom, occurring in the second or third century AD, well into the Roman occupation.
Despite this Roman-style burial, the grave contained few artefacts, which Cheetham interprets as evidence that local farmers, while adopting external forms, did not materially benefit from integration into the empire. Instead, these mixed burial practices illustrate a complex cultural negotiation, a community adopting select Roman traditions while preserving its native beliefs and values.
Changing Beliefs in a Transforming World
The discovery of sacrificial victims coincides with other burials at the site that show cultural blending following the Roman conquest. Bournemouth University reports that grave goods such as wine vessels in Mediterranean style, though locally produced, were buried alongside individuals laid to rest in traditional Iron Age fetal positions.
One grave featured two women buried together, accompanied by a Roman-style wine flagon and goblets. According to Dr Russell, these items point to a society selectively adopting Roman habits while retaining deeply rooted native customs. “So, although the grave was dug ten to twenty years after the Romans arrived, in the mid to late first century AD, it’s clear that the local people are not becoming Roman in a big way, merely taking things from the Romans that enhance and improve their life, in this instance wine,” he said,
As co-director Paul Cheetham noted, these findings imply that despite the encroaching empire, many Iron Age Britons maintained traditional cultural identities, integrating only what served their needs. The excavations will continue next summer, and the human remains are now undergoing further analysis at Bournemouth and Dublin universities.
