A Roman crucifixion from near Cambridge

Last night I watched on BBC 4 The Cambridgeshire Crucifixion which revealed the examination of a skeleton of a man who had died by crucifixion probably in the mid-third century. The skeleton was found in a Roman cemetary at Fenstanton near St Ives - so in terms of Anglo-Saxon and later counties, in Huntingdonshire rather than Cambridgeshire.

The programme can be watched on BBC iplayer. 

The skeleton is only the second definitely identified victim of crucifixion to have been found - the other was in Jerusalem - in the entire Roman Empire, and is the only one for which a facial reconstruction has been done.

The man was 5’7”tall, in his mid to late thirties and appears from genetic evidence to have been likely to have had brown hair and eyes. He appears to have been native to Britannia rather than coming from overseas.

The BBC News website reported in some detail in an illustrated report on the discovery of his remains in 2021. This can be seen at Roman crucifixion: First example in UK found in Cambridgeshire

The Mail Online has an illustrated article about the remains and the latest research at Face of man crucified by the Romans in Cambridgeshire reconstructed

The Roman context of Fenstanton as being on the road linking the military camps at Godmanchester and Cambridge and with a substantial villa is set out briefly in the Wikipedia entry for the village at Fenstanton