If you thought zombies were a pop culture phenomenon, a concept that came up recently, know that fear of the undead has been around for a long, long time. Proof of this is the evidence found by archaeologists indicating that medieval Englishmen were truly terrified of these creatures - so much so that they took the time to cut the bodies of the dead to pieces, break their bones and burn their skeletons, all to ensure that they would not return to haunt the living!

They were already feared in the Medieval Era.

According to Maev Kennedy of The Guardian, the evidence - of the fight against the possible zombie apocalypse - was discovered after archaeologists evaluated a collection of 137 human bone fragments. The items were identified as being from 10 different individuals (five adult men, two women and three small children) aged 2 to 50 years.

War against the undead

According to Maev, the bones were found more than 50 years ago in the ruins of the ancient village of Wharram Percy in Yorkshire County, England, and were dated between the 11th and 14th centuries. After assessing the burn marks on the bones and the way they were cut, the scientists concluded that these people had not been the victims of a massacre or cannibalized.

Where Wharram Percy's Village Was

Corpses with signs of cannibalism have already been found in other archaeological sites in England - a practice not uncommon during times of famine - but in these cases the bones often show cut marks near the joints. The signs observed are now different and seem to indicate that the bodies were dismembered after death.

Thus, the most plausible explanation that archaeologists found was that the corpses were purposely mutilated to prevent them from rising from their graves. As they said, if that is the case, the marks found on the bones correspond to the first archaeological evidence ever discovered in England of the fight against zombies - or, in the words of the researchers, “the attempt to prevent the dead from returning to harm or injure the alive ”.

Illustration showing what the village was like

Interestingly, there are a number of “Medieval” recipes on how to deal with the undead, how to dig up their bodies, sever their heads and scratch their bones. People of the day believed that these poor deceased were cursed subjects, or even evil, and that they still held a grudge for those who remained alive - and could return to spread disease or death. Sinister, right?

* Posted on 4/4/2017