Intriguing finds could solve mystery of women in medieval cemetery

Intriguing new discoveries at a medieval cemetery in Wales have brought archaeologists closer to solving the mystery surrounding the women buried there.

They found a small building and discovered household and decorative items, including exquisite colored glass beads.

So far, 58 skeletons dating from the 6th or 7th centuries have been discovered at this site. Unusually, almost all were owned by women.

The new finds add to growing evidence that the burial ground was part of an early female religious community.

For the past four years, archaeologists have been excavating the site of Fonmont Castle, near the end of Cardiff Airport's runway.

The skeletons are buried in shallow graves carved into the limestone rock. Although their bones and teeth indicate that they lived a hard life, the objects found among the graves indicate wealth and luxury.

The team racked their brains trying to figure out who these women were.

Now the latest excavations have yielded an important clue: the outline of what could be a small building.

“It produces fragments of building stone, so it can be structural. We could think about a small temple or chapel,” says Dr Andy Seaman from Cardiff University, who is leading the excavation.

“I think we have a site that may be an early religious community.”

The potential building is located in the center of the cemetery, with graves clustered around it. It seems that people wanted to be buried as close to this object as possible.

In fact they are so close, says Cardiff University archaeologist Tudur Davies, that some of these graves contain multiple people.

“It's a very desirable place to bury people,” he says.

“Sometimes two, three, four people were buried in the same place, over and over again. There doesn't seem to be that much of a taboo against putting the bodies in the same place and just pushing the rest there aside.”

Artifacts found at the site reveal more about the people buried here.

The objects were taken to a laboratory at Cardiff University. Conservator Claire Emerson painstakingly removes dirt from an ornate copper brooch.

“We'll have to do another test, but most likely it's bronze,” she says. “We also think it may have been gilded, meaning it had a gold coating on top.”

The ends, she explains, were covered with green enamel.

“It would be a very decorative brooch. I think this is a special find for this place.”

Along with this medieval piece of jewelry, the team also discovered a bone pin with a detailed design and a comb intricately carved from antler.

And some more exquisite multi-colored glass beads. Measuring approximately 3mm, each is a miniature delight. They may have been sewn onto clothing or attached to jewelry.

But household items found at the site also tell us a lot.

“We have a millstone for grinding flour for bread. We have pottery and glass for eating and drinking,” says Dr. Andy Seaman.

“Obviously this is not just a place for the dead. There’s a vibrant community here too.”

He believes that the community was fenced in, living right next to the cemetery, separated from the rest of society.

The pieces of this medieval puzzle are starting to come together. But there are still some questions.

The remains of several men were found – who are they? And several more children – were they related to any of the women?

And while most of the people in the cemetery were buried with great care, two women were thrown into a ditch – one with her hands and feet tied. What did they do to deserve this?

The team is now trying to figure out whether this could be an example of very early Christianity.

“This is a period when history has not yet been written,” says Dr. Seeman.

“We don't really understand the sites of the early churches… how they functioned, what they looked like, how they were organized.

“We know this very well from later periods, but in this very formative period of history it is not very well understood. So this is a really exciting opportunity.”

Archaeologists will continue excavations later this year.