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Anglo-Saxon girl's skull with nose and lips cut off is ‘earliest physical evidence of brutal punishment for female adultery’

Garrard Cole/UCL/ Antiquity Publications Ltd
Garrard Cole/UCL/ Antiquity Publications Ltd

New analysis of an Anglo-Saxon girl’s skull has revealed she had her nose and upper lip cut off in what archaeologists believe was a ritual punishment for adultery.

The study, carried out by experts at University College London’s Institute of Archaeology, is the earliest evidence of such punishments to date.

Radiocarbon dating has suggested the cranium dates to around AD 776-899. Previously, ancient historians had only written evidence from the 10th and 11th centuries indicating that brutal facial mutilations were inflicted as a penalty for female adulterers.

The girl, believed to have been aged between 15 and 18, did not appear to have survived for long after the injuries were inflicted.

Archaeologists carried out detailed analyses (Garrard Cole/UCL/ Antiquity Publications Ltd)
Archaeologists carried out detailed analyses (Garrard Cole/UCL/ Antiquity Publications Ltd)

The team of archaeologists and scientists led by UCL’s Garrard Cole found her wounds showed no sign of healing.

Their report, published in the journal Antiquity on Wednesday, said the girl may also have been scalped.

The skull was originally excavated at Oakridge in Basingstoke back in the 1960s ahead of the construction of a housing estate, but had been stored untouched and unexamined until recently.

The researchers wrote: "This case appears to be the first archaeological example of this particularly brutal form of facial disfigurement known from Anglo-Saxon England.

"The specificity of the wounds suggests that her mutilation was punitive, either at the hands of a local mob or by local administrators.”

The experts also suggested that, as the skull was found without the girl’s skeleton, her head may have been cut off and displayed as a deterrent to the local population.

Similar punishments were also meted out to slaves.

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