Stunned archaeologists solve 2,000 year-old murder mystery while filming TV show

Archaeologists have seemingly solved a 2,000-year-old murder case while they were filming a show on Britain's past.

TV personality Sandi Toksvig and Bournemouth University archaeologist Miles Russell were filming at an Iron Age settlement in Dorset, for a More4 series focused on the secrets of Britain's past.

It's called Hidden Wonders, and they stumbled upon the skeleton of their victim while making their way through the domestic dwellings and cemetery of a Celtic tribe called the Durotriges, who lived in the rural areas of Dorset prior to the Romans.

The big discovery was when they found the remains of a teenage girl, buried face down in a pit in what might be the coldest existing case in the country.

An ancient teen mystery in itself, the presenter and archaeologist were taken aback by the discovery.

Toksvig was in disbelief when she found the skeleton (Bournemouth University)

Speaking to The Independent, Toksvig admitted about the discovery for the Channel 4 show: “I turned the face at last to the light and it felt like the person was looking at me...At that moment, I unexpectedly burst into tears.”

They found that the teeenager had suffered damage to her arms and upper torso, which may have come from acts of violence before death.

Burying someone face down wasn't normal at the time either, with the body being placed carefully in the grave - leading archaeologists to suggest they were killed in sacrifice.

Archaeologist Dr Russell said that her team 'were particularly shocked' by this revelation, noting that Tosvig was 'deeply moved' by what they found.

“The finds were often in a Roman style, demonstrating a blend between Roman and traditional Iron Age customs, helping us to build up a picture of the how these people lived and died 2,000 years ago,” the expert added.

Toksvig added: “I could not stop crying … to hold that person’s head in my hands was one of the greatest privileges of my life,” noting that the remains were being handled 'very carefully'.

The remains were found face down (Bournemouth University)

“This has the sense of a body thrown into a pit, with hands potentially tied at the wrist,” Russell said to Livescience, claiming that the body is likely a 'she', though clarified that they 'haven’t had a chance to assess the DNA yet in order to clinch it'.

Unfortunately, this wasn't the only sacrifice victim recovered from the repository, with archaeologists finding a teenager in 2024 and a young adult female in 2010 whose neck was slashed.

Russell things these discoveries were helping to 'build' a picture of the tribe, in a society which was said to be matriarchal.

Women owned the land here, while men were invited to travel to their wives' villages to marry instead of the other way around, which was the norm back then, suggesting that the victims may have been on the lower end of society and therefore up for sacrifices.