Girl ‘murdered’ by Roman soldiers in north Kent

BBC

The body of a girl thought to have been murdered by Roman soldiers has been discovered in north Kent. Archaeologists working on the site of a Roman settlement near the A2 uncovered the girl who died almost 2,000 years ago. “She was killed by a Roman sword stabbing her in the back of the head,” said Dr Paul Wilkinson, director of the excavation. “By the position of the entry wound she would have been kneeling at the time.”

The Roman conquest of Britain began in AD43, and the construction of Watling Street started soon afterwards linking Canterbury to St Albans [..] Dr Wilkinson said that she had been between 16 and 20 years old when she was killed, and her bones suggested that she had been in good health. [..]

The burial site was just outside the Roman town, with cemeteries close by. Many people have a romantic view of the Roman invasion, Dr Wilkinson said. “Now, for the first time, we have an indication of how the Roman armies treated people, and that large numbers of the local populations were killed.