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York Archaeological Trust

The beheaded skeletons were buried with their skulls, which inadvertently helped archaeologists understand where they came from.

The Driffield Terrace cemetery first came to light during renovations to the backyard of a local house.

The neck vertebrae of Roman-age skeletons found at Driffield Terrace by York Archaeological Trust show signs of decapitation.

The skeletons found in the cemetery were all men under the age of 45.

Trinity College Dublin geneticist Dan Bradley says the inner ear, or petrous, bone is a particularly good source of well-preserved DNA.

Unusually, many of the bodies in the Driffield Terrace cemetery were beheaded. Some archaeologists think that suggests they were gladiators; others say they might have been criminals.

Roman-age skeletons from York’s Driffield Terrace cemetery are laid out in the city’s historic Guildhall.

Geneticists sampled the dense inner-ear bone to extract ancient DNA from the skulls of several Roman-age skeletons discovered at Driffield Terrace in York.