Investigation of a Romano-British rural ritual in Bedford, England

The Romano-British cemetery at Kempston, a suburb of Bedford, was excavated in 1992 by Bedfordshire County Archaeology Service and revealed 12 individ uals who had been decapitated and 12 who were placed in the prone position. These practices are a regular feature of internments in rural and a few ur ban cemeteries dating to the late Roman period in a well-defined area of ce ntral England. The osteological findings are discussed and placed in the co ntext of more widespread Iron Age customs.