More than 140 years ago, dock workers in Preston uncovered 23 human skulls alongside prehistoric animal remains and two dugout canoes. Victorian researchers initially speculated the skulls belonged to Bronze Age people, but later studies have shown they came from a much wider period.
Recent research by the University of Lancashire and Liverpool John Moores University, using carbon dating, revealed the remains span from 3800 BC to 1000 AD. The oldest male skull dates to 3520-3330 BC, while a female skull dates to 3820–3640 BC.
One Anglo-Saxon woman's skull, dated to around AD 680–890, shows evidence of a violent death, including a sharp cut above the eye and another across the top of the skull, likely from a sword blow. Researchers suggest the skulls may have entered the River Ribble at different times before being carried downstream and deposited where the water slowed.
The excavation also uncovered more than 60 pairs of red deer antlers and skulls of aurochs, an extinct wild ox. Two dugout canoes, thought to be from prehistoric times, were also found. The Francis Crick Institute is currently conducting further DNA testing and carbon dating on the skulls to learn more about the individuals.