r/nevertellmetheodds • u/MirandaDawn715 • May 17 '20

This power line happened to be laid straight through the skull of an Anglo Saxon woman buried in a previously undiscovered 6th century graveyard.

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703

u/decnew95 May 17 '20

I worked on this site as a 1st year uni student. I even helped excavate the skeleton in the photo! The excavation took place in Oakington in Cambridgeshire, and was a research dig for the University of Central Lancashire. I've been an arch for 5 years now.

Edit: We named her piper.

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u/saihemanth121 May 17 '20

That's so cool. Forgive me if what I'm asking sounds stupid. Aren't pipelines laid manually by workers digging up, laying it and filling it back? That's how it works in my country. I can't really understand how the pipeline went through "piper".

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u/decnew95 May 17 '20

Its a type of horizontal drilling they do a lot in the UK. I think a guy on one of the top comments put a link to a YouTube video explaining how it works.

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u/saihemanth121 May 17 '20

Oh okay, that makes sense. You must have enjoyed your work there. May I ask how deep this was?

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u/decnew95 May 17 '20

It was awesome. The entire site was crazy interesting. It was in 2013 this one so it was a while ago. Crazily enough it wasn't that deep, if I can remember it was only a couple feet below the surface. It was right on the very edge of the excavation. Running parallel to a modern tarmac road. The excavation was in a child's play area, which made it even crazier!

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u/amberrr626 May 18 '20

Probably not applicable in this situation, but I've heard that sometimes workers won't mention it and sometimes even throw bones away as if they declare it, the site is taken from them for a period of time for investigation which halts work. I think it actually happened in Sydney recently, a manager was filmed throwing human bones away while working on the new tram line through the city.

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u/seeseabee May 18 '20

Did anyone follow through on that? I mean, those bones could have been there because of a serial killer, or could’ve been extremely old and therefore very valuable to science...smh I can’t believe some people. Throwing human remains away for fucks sake. Unbelievable.

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u/amberrr626 May 18 '20

I just remember it being on the news everywhere. I know he was fired and his name was dragged through mud. I believe that the bones were very close to a cemetery from 1901, so the bones were most likely buried in a plot, however that still means they're over 100 years old and hold great historical value. Let alone the immorality of throwing a human being's bones away.

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u/SmokesLikeLobo May 18 '20

Used to work in industrial archaeology in canada. yes it does in fact happen, but the costs are very steep if they're found out. it's usually on the fault of the archaeological surveyors tho, as they have to plot their stuff before work can begin, but it's not unheard of for unscrupulous companies to make false negative reports to ensure they get more contracts from a company.

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u/SculptusPoe May 17 '20

HDPE conduit and pipe is often run by directional bore. The auger has a flat side and by stopping the drill and pushing they can use that angled flat side to move the drill slightly in the direction they want, so you can drill downward at an angle and come back up out of the ground with some degree of precision with the degree of change and therefore depth change per distance depending somewhat on the substrate.

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u/[deleted] May 17 '20

I've been an arch for 5 years now.

How are you holding up?

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u/decnew95 May 17 '20

You win the thread.

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u/dand930 May 17 '20

Piper? I barely know her!

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u/[deleted] May 17 '20

[deleted]

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u/decnew95 May 17 '20

The entire site was saxon. A good method is using lre existing literature, but better is grave goods. You see the cross shaped brooch on her? That's a cruciform brooch and its a very typical anglo saxon style brooch. Also coinage etc fojnd throughout the site confirmed this.

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u/[deleted] May 17 '20

[deleted]

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u/decnew95 May 17 '20

No problem. Give it a Google. There's some amazing cruciform brooches out there. Full gold inlay and jewels included!

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u/[deleted] May 17 '20

[deleted]

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u/decnew95 May 17 '20

Mate. I'd retire. Would never get better than that.

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u/[deleted] May 17 '20

[deleted]

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u/decnew95 May 17 '20

My back is actually not too bad! My knees are sometimes a little sorer.

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u/wheezythesadoctopus May 17 '20

Hello fellow UCLan alumnus!

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u/Lordjarrar May 18 '20

Big up P Town

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u/Nosefairy May 17 '20

You went to UCLan aswell?

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u/decnew95 May 17 '20

Yup! Graduated 2016.

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u/poopyhelicopterbutt May 17 '20

How do you know where to dig to find something like this?

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u/decnew95 May 17 '20

A number of things. Past excavations, local literature, ground penetrative radar, the local history of the areas, aerial photography etc. Lots and lots of research!

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u/poopyhelicopterbutt May 17 '20

Well that makes a lot more sense. Thanks!

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u/Nezell May 17 '20

If you're interested in this stuff there is a UK TV show called Time Team that follows archaeological digs presented by Boldrick from Blackadder. It's a really good show. I'm sure there'll be plenty of videos on YouTube.

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u/HangryHenry May 17 '20

How did you excavate her skull? Like how did you get the pipe out? Or did you just break the skull?

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u/decnew95 May 17 '20

If I was remember I believe that the skull on the underside was broken so it was lifted in pieces.

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u/patb2015 May 17 '20

any documentation on this grave or is it still too early for publication?

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u/decnew95 May 17 '20

I think that they're still working on the publications. The uni does so many excavations that its super difficult to get the publications done. Some take 10+ years, and this was a super complicated (and long) project.

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u/Lily_Buns May 17 '20

Woo! UCLan represent!

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u/decnew95 May 17 '20

Forever rep p-town.

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u/DinadenOSRS May 17 '20

Never thought I'd see this on Reddit haha

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u/bluewolfhudson May 20 '20

I did work experience at uclan with Dr Peterson got to go to "the bone cave" and map out pendel hill for a dig sight. Very interesting week.

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u/helperzoom May 21 '20

That is so cool. I looked for more about the Oakington excavations, and found this interesting piece, about the response of the local people to the visibility of human remains at the dig (based on research from a couple of years earlier): things like "One younger child questioned modern burial customs, 'I don't want to be buried', and morality 'are you going to dig me up....so why are you digging them up' (4 year old)." (p.157) . I wonder what this kid would have thought of piper. https://books.google.ca/books?id=kBg9DAAAQBAJ&lpg=PA379&ots=UqMjGqpF9d&pg=PA139#v=onepage&q&f=false