Two 1,000-Year-Old Skeletons Holding Hands Found By Archaeologists In Leicestershire (Photo)

(N.Morgan) In an endearing find, archaeologists unearthed two 1,000 year old skeleton holding hands, in the Lost Chapel. It reminds us that love us enduring and through out the ages, was a vital part of their lives/development.  The remains, of a man and a woman, were found at the Chapel of St Morrell, an ancient site of pilgrimage in Hallaton. Tiles from a Roman building, were found underneath the chapel. The dig, by Hallaton Fieldwork Group volunteers, has been taking place for two weeks a year for four years. The skeletons were discovered this week. A condition of the license for the dig is that no photographs can be taken of the bodies. Leading the project is professional archaeologist Vicky Score, of the University of Leicester, who works on the project during her holidays.She said carbon-dating on nine skeletons uncovered since the dig began had revealed them to be from the 14th century. It is believed the pair holding hands are of a similar age. The skeletons have been removed to the university for further investigation.

Vicky said some of the nine skeletons had stones placed on top of their bodies. “This was a tradition popular in eastern Europe with the idea of keeping the dead down,” she said. Vicky said the earliest mention of the chapel in Hallaton was in a will of 1532. “What makes the discovery of the medieval chapel doubly exciting is to find the remains of a previous Roman building underneath it,” she said.“It shows this ground has been used as a special sort of place by people for at least 2,000 years.“It also seems to tie in with the fact this is where the ancient bottle kicking contest starts.” The chapel was located after research by local historian John Morrison. He said: “Antiquarians over the ages have referred to a chapel somewhere in Hallaton. “It was a case of piecing evidence together and then getting in geo-physicists to take images of the land from above to locate the spot for our dig.”

Saint Morrell became the 4th Bishop of Anjou, France, in the year 430. John said: “We think he was brought over in 1170 with the Anjou people, when that area of France became united under Henry II – the first of the Plantagenets.” In 1622, a writer was noting that within living memory “multitudes came to Hallaton chapel to be cured”. The Iron Age Hallaton hoard, including a Roman helmet and coins, was discovered 14 years ago about 500 metres away. On the strength of that find, the heritage group received lottery funding, which has enabled the dig to take place. Vicky said she was hoping it would eventually fill in the gap between the Roman and medieval periods. “We are missing about 500 years,” she said. “We don’t know what happened here during that time.”

More Stories Contributed By N. Morgan