‘Something horrible’: Somerset pit reveals bronze age cannibalism

Analysis of the remains of at least 37 people shows they were butchered and some were probably eaten before being thrown down a 15-metre-deep shaft. Photograph: Antiquity Publications

A collection of human bones discovered 50 years ago in a Somerset pit are evidence of the bloodiest known massacre in British prehistory – and of bronze age cannibalism, archaeologists say.

At least 37 men, women and children were killed at some point between 2200BC and 2000BC, with their bodies thrown into a deep natural shaft at Charterhouse Warren, near Cheddar Gorge.