Archaeologists have uncovered a chilling aspect of the River Thames’s past. For millennia—spanning at least 6,000 years—people have been disposing of human remains in the river that flows through London.
Hundreds of human bones have been dredged from the bottom of England’s River Thames over the past two centuries, and a new study of these skeletons suggests that most of them date back to the Bronze and Iron ages.
“The big question for these human bones is how they came to be in the river,” Arthur said. Her first step was to produce dozens of radiocarbon dates to better understand when the bodies ended up there.
A recent study analyzed 61 skeletons, including 30 newly recovered specimens and 31 previously examined ones.
Radiocarbon dating revealed that these remains date from around 4000 BC to 1800 AD, with a notable portion originating from the Bronze Age (2300 to 800 BC) and the Iron Age (800 BC to 43 AD). This indicates that the practice was especially prevalent during these periods.
“We can now say with confidence that these don’t appear to just be bones that have steadily accumulated in the river through time,” Arthur said. “There really was something significant going on in the Bronze and Iron Ages.”
Studying skeletons from the Thames is not new. Since the 19th century, scholars have debated why Britain’s early people often threw bodies into the water.
One theory is that it was a ritual of some sort. In many ancient cultures, rivers were revered as sacred, and offering human remains might serve to honor deities or to seek their favor. This pattern occurs across northwestern Europe, explained Arthur, but it’s still too early to conclude this was the main motivation.
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A second theory: The remains may be the result of violence. Not just individual mayhem: Ancient communities would have fought over this vital resource and strategic route. Some of the skeletons pulled from the river show signs of trauma.
Although human remains are not uncommon in European waterways, the sheer number of skeletons discovered in the Thames is unparalleled.
