Last year I posted a story about the discovery of a load of headless bodies which were found in a mass grave in England. At the time there was speculation that they may have been executed vikings. Testing has now confirmed that they were!

The discovery, during construction of a relief road for sailing events in the 2012 Olympics, led to a host of theories. At first it was thought they were Iron Age warriors killed by the invading Roman Legions during fighting for Maiden Castle, Britain’s largest hill fort. That theory was ruled out when radio carbon tests dated the bones to between AD910 and AD1030, a thousand years later.

Study of the bones has revealed the brutality of their deaths. Their heads were not cleanly parted from their shoulders with the swing of an executioners’ axe, but hacked off with swords as the naked warriors tried to defend themselves with their bare hands.

Ceri Boston, an expert in ancient bones who examined the remains, said: “It was not a straight one slice and head off. They were all hacked at around the head and jaw. It doesn’t look like they were very willing or the executioners very skilled.

“We think the decapitation was messy because the person was moving around. One man had his hands sliced through. It looks like he was trying to grab hold of the sword as he was being executed.”

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The following are all the articles on A Blog About History for the week of March 8-12, 2010.

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Five graveyards, which date back to the 3rd and 4th century AD, have been unearthed in old Darya City new Damascus.

The discovered graveyards, mostly dating back to the roman and byzantine era, contain tens of skulls, Mahmoud Hamoud, Damascus Countryside archaeology director told local news and media.

Hamoud disclosed that some other findings were also found as part of burial materials, including clay and glass tools, bracelets, rings, ring-bells, beads, eardrops, made of bronze, iron, glass, wood, and precious stones, as well as eardrops made of gold.

Earlier, Damascus Countryside Archaeology Directorate announced the finding of a basalt-built mass graveyard in ‘Ashrafiat Sihnaya’, dating back to same period, with several skulls and other burial materials, made of glass, wood, and metal.

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Aided by wartime photos, the Austrian government has identified at least two mass graves of Nazi victims.

The mass graves are located underneath an army sports field in the southern city of Graz. Government officials say they contain about 70 bodies.

The victims were concentration camp inmates and others, all killed by the SS to eliminate witnesses to Nazi atrocities shortly before Soviet troops arrived.

The graves were identified from wartime photos, made from U.S. bombers, showing open graves and bodies.

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Egypt will shoulder the costs of restoring 11 of the countries historic synagogues.

Hosny committed his ministry to restoring all 11 synagogues across Egypt, three of which have already been renovated. The best-known synagogue that of Ben Ezra, is located in Cairo’s Christian quarter near a number of old churches and was restored years ago.

The ceremony at the Ben Maimon synagogue was closed to media but attendees said it was an emotional event, especially for the Egyptian-Jewish families invited, many of whom now live in Europe.

“There were some lectures on the Jewish sites in Egypt and the temple. It was nice, emotional and nostalgic,” said Raymond Stock, an American close to the Jewish community in Cairo who attended the three-day event.

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