Discovery of new human skeleton leaves scientists baffled

The discovery of a 2000-year-old skeleton during excavations of an ancient Celtic settlement has left experts baffled.

She was bound. Beaten. Thrown into a pit. She was just 15. And she wasn’t the only one.

But was she a Celtic human sacrifice? Or a social outcast?

Her 2000-year-old skeleton was found during excavations of an ancient Celtic settlement in Dorset, England.

It’s not a traditional burial for the Iron Age Durotriges tribe.

There were no grave gifts. And the body had been buried face-down in a rough-cut pit, with broken arms twisted behind her back.

The victim, believed to be between 15 and 17 years old, isn’t alone. The body of another teenage girl was found nearby in 2024, as was that of a young adult woman in 2010.

All three had suffered violent deaths and were roughly disposed of at some point in the first century BC.

And that doesn’t fit.

Archaeologists have gleaned a good understanding of the Durotriges from their art, structures and genetic remains. And a study published in the science journal Nature by Bournemouth University has found that this was a community dominated by women.

So much so that all the tribe’s womenfolk could trace their lineage back to a single individual.

“Interestingly, two of the earliest recorded British rulers were women, Cartimandua and Boudica, suggesting that both sexes could reach the highest political status,” the study states.

When the Romans arrived a century later, they were shocked.

And fascinated.

This burial of a high-status Iron Age Durotriges tribe woman reveals valuable funerary gifts. Picture: Bournemouth University

The remains a Celtic teenager who appears to have been bound, beaten and thrown face first into her burial pit in Dorset, England. Picture: Bournemouth University

“They wrote about it because they found it so weird,” Trinity College Dublin geneticist Dr Lara Cassidy told the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).

The arch-conservatives could not accept that women could own property, have a voice in local politics, or act as the head of a family or clan. And especially not be free agents of their own lives.

But if the Durotriges held their women in such high regard, and were likely even ruled by them, why were these three girls treated so brutally?

An elaborately decorated bronze mirror was buried with a prominent Celtic woman in southern England. Picture: Chris Moody/Bournemouth University

Gender politics

The Greek Geographer Strabo was scandalised by Celtic culture: “Men and women dance together, holding each other’s hands,” he exclaimed. “But as for their custom relating to the men and the women (I mean the fact that their tasks have been exchanged, in a manner opposite to what obtains among us), it is one which they share in common with many other barbarian peoples,” he wrote.

Rome was likewise firmly patriarchal. A husband’s word was law. An extended family was ruled by its most senior male member, as if he were a king. And that power was passed down to his son.

Roman women were status symbols. They represented family allegiances and business deals. They were valuable commodities. And so were largely locked away.

Then the legions encountered the Gauls and Bretons.

“The women of the Gauls are not only like men in their great stature, but they are a match for them in courage as well,” writes Roman historian Diodorus Siculus.

Celtic women were a revelation.

Durotriges tribe women reveal genetic traits inherited from a single female ancestor, hinting at high status and perhaps a matrifocal society. Picture: Nature

“From Cartimandua’s 30-year reign of the Brigantes, a tribe covering much of northern England, we learn that women could inherit property, divorce and lead armies to great effect,” the study reads.

“In the east of England, Boudica of the Iceni famously led an uprising that destroyed three Roman towns and challenged the authority of the imperial government.”

But the Celts were a collection of diverse tribes.

Not all held the same beliefs or practices.

Archaeologists have found that members of Great Britain’s Durotriges tribe often buried women with more grave goods than men. Picture: Miles Russell/Bournemouth University

Julius Caesar wrote of the impressions he formed during his campaigns in Gaul: “Men have power over their wives, as over their children, over life and death; and when the head of the family, born in a more distinguished place, dies, his relatives meet and, if the matter is suspected of death, they hold a slavish inquiry about the wives and, if it is discovered, they torture them with fire and all kinds of tortures and kill them.”

Caesar, pater (patriarch) of the Julia family and founder of the Roman Empire, was prone to propaganda. And his attempt to invade Britain, the homeland of the Durotriges, was thrown back into the sea.

But what he would have made of the Durotriges, and their practice of passing power and property down from mother to daughter, is easy to imagine.

Dr Miles Russell at the Durotriges dig site. Picture: Bournemouth University

Glimpses of a woman’s world

“If you judge social status by burial goods, then female burials have vastly more than male,” says Bournemouth University principal archaeologist Dr Miles Russell.

The Durotriges were unusual for Celts in that they didn’t cremate their dead.

And their burials of women usually include gifts “such as bronze brooches, a bronze bangle and a bone comb,” Dr Russell explains in a statement. Some have even been found with swords.

“The finds were often in a Roman style, demonstrating a blend between Roman and traditional Iron Age customs, helping us to build up a picture of how these people lived and died 2000 years ago.”

It appears to have been a “matrilocal” community.

DNA and isotope analysis indicate that many of the men originated from various locations across Britain and northwestern Europe.

A second roughly-treated, and unadorned, burial of a teenage girl was found at the site in 2024. Picture: Bournemouth University

“DNA evidence further indicate that the tribal lineage can be traced back to a single woman,” the Bournemouth University press release adds. “This evidence points to communities being centred around the mothers of families.”

“Women are staying close to family and are embedded in the support network they’ve known since childhood. It’s the husband who’s coming in as a stranger and is dependent on the wife’s family,” explains Dr Cassiday.

But it appears not all Durotriges women were born equal.

The tribe had a hierarchy, with some women at the top – and bottom – of the social ladder.

And not all would have conformed to the established standards.

Something made the 15-year-old girl “disposable”, Russell explains.

“This appears to be the execution of a person carried out in a very theatrical manner,” he added in a statement to Arkeonews.

But the discovery of the three murdered girls (more may yet be found) indicates the killings were part of an established practice. Such as sacrifice. Or public execution.

The research team from Bournemouth University intends to further examine the burials to uncover new clues. DNA is being tested to determine if the young women were outsiders or part of the community. Their teeth and bones are being analysed for signs of diet, disease and trauma.

“We are at a loss to know what socio-politico-environmental factors triggered the practice,” Dr Russell states.

Originally published as Discovery of new human skeleton leaves scientists baffled