Tower of London mystery as complete skeletons of woman and child found under floor at infamous medieval prison
THE 500-year-old skeletons of a sickly woman and child have been discovered at the Tower of London.
The bones, unearthed near a chapel at the infamous former prison, are the first to be found there since the 1970s.
The Tower of London is nearly 1,000 years old and was once the site of execution for Brits found guilty of treason.
Two of Henry VIII's six wives, Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard, were beheaded in the Tower complex during the 16th Century.
Experts at Historic Royal Palaces, which oversees the Tower of London, announced the discovery of two skeletons in a this week.
Archaeologists uncovered the remains during excavations outside the entrance to the Tower's Chapel of St. Peter ad Vincula.
The work involved digging beneath parts a mortar surface that was once the floor of King Edward I’s lost chapel, which burnt down in 1513.
"These remains were found lying on their backs facing up and were aligned with their feet facing east," Historic Buildings Curator Alfred Hawkins said.
"Due to the presence of coffin nails, and the positioning of the skeletons, it is thought that the adult female was buried within a coffin.
"It is likely the child was simply wrapped in a blanket prior to being buried."
Alfred added that the burial most likely took place between 1450 and 1550 AD.
It's unlikely the pair were related as they look to have been buried at different times, a Historic Royal Palaces spokesperson told The Sun.
No burial goods were found with the bodies, though a Roman jet bracelet was recovered nearby.
Based on an analysis of her bones, the woman is believed to have been aged 35-45 when she died. The child was around seven.
Both skeletons show signs of illness and the adult shows signs of chronic back pain.
Alfred added that there were "no signs of violent death", suggesting the pair were not executed at the Tower.
Instead, it's most likely they were commoners who lived and worked within the grounds.
It was customary to bury employees at the Tower's chapels.
"This fortress has been occupied for nearly 1,000 years, but we must remember it is not only a palace, fortress and prison," Alfred said.
"It has also been a home to those who worked within its walls.";
An estimated 400 people were executed at the Tower of London between the 11th and 20th centuries.
In fact, the place of execution was at Tower Hill, a spot a little further north that allowed control of the crowd.
The Tower was primarily used as a prison for important personalities, such as queens, kings and aristocrats.
The last person to be executed there was Josef Jakobs, a German spy captured shortly after parachuting into the UK during the Second World War.
Convicted of espionage under the Treachery Act 1940, Jakobs was shot by a military firing squad in 1941.
Britain's dark history of hanging
Here's what you need to know...
- Hanging as a form of judicial execution in England is believed to date back to the Anglo-Saxon times, between the 5th and 11th centuries
- The first known hangman was Thomas de Warblynton in the 1360s, who is named in historical records
- Britain's last hangmen were Robert Leslie Stewart and Harry Allen, who conducted the last executions in 1964
- Hangings were originally performed in public until 1868
- The traditional site in London was at Tyburn, west of the City of London on the road to Oxford
- It was used on eight hanging days a year
- In 1965, Parliament passed the Murder (Abolition of Death Penalty) Act, which temporarily abolished capital punishment for murder for five years
- The Act was then renewed in 1969 making it permanent
- However, the death penalty wasn't officially abolished until 1998, with the Crime and Disorder Act and the Human Rights Act
- The last woman to be hanged was Ruth Ellis, who was executed by Albert Pierrepoint on July 13, 1955
- Britain's last hanging took place in 1964, when two men were hanged for murdering van driver John Alan West
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In other archaeology news, the shattered skeleton of a Medieval man found in Italy last month was caused by execution on a wheel of torture.
An eerie mass grave filled with bodies butchered by Mongol invaders was recently uncovered in Russia.
And, we've rounded up some of the most brutal ancient burial sites ever discovered.
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