A student archaeology dig near Cambridge, England has turned up a Viking-era pit packed with dismembered and bound human remains, dated to the 8th or 9th century.
Why it matters
The find gives archaeologists rare physical evidence of organized violence and possible execution practices in early medieval England, a period more often reconstructed from sparse written sources than bodies.
What to watch
Researchers plan further analysis of the remains, including isotope and possible DNA testing, to determine who the victims were and why they were killed.