At Bradley Fen both fully articulated skeletons and disarticulated remains were buried. With the exception of a couple of cremations and a single inhumation, the majority of the 'burials' occurred in unusual contexts or places. For example, settlement features such as pits and postholes contained the remains of people. Contexts that had already been used as parts of the settlement were being transformed by the incorporation of human remains, either as fragments or complete articulated skeletons. In a pit full of butchered animal bone we found fragments of human skull; in one of the postholes of a four-post structure we found an adult skeleton that had been severely contorted to make it fit; in the base of well that had already partially silted up we found a body face down in the water; and out on our 'high tide line' left to erode on the surface were the remains of another individual - the surviving pieces looking like bits of driftwood left by the tide. The nearby King's Dyke site saw monument-related burials, two round barrows there being associated with a ritual timber henge setting.

This skeleton was found face down in a watering hole with its legs trailing down the side. Once the skeleton had been carefully excavated and recorded we set about removing the legs and torso to reveal the face of the skull and the position of the hands. Matthew Brudenell (the excavator) was sure that these would help us understand what had happened to this person. As the picture shows the skull was intact with no real evidence of trauma but the hands tell a different story. With the rest of the skeleton carefully removed we can see that the hands had been tied together in the manner illustrated in the reconstruction. Its seems that this person was already dead upon entering the pit as the hands are clenched and not outstretched to break the fall.

At King's Dyke West we found three Early Bronze Age crouched inhumations, all located within grave cuts, all sharing the same posture (knees bent, head on its side and one hand raised to the mouth). Although very similar in appearance, each burial was treated differently after the grave had been backfilled. The grave belonging to Body A was encircled by a ring of posts into which was inserted the cremated remains of another body. Subsequently, a large ring-ditch was cut around the ring of posts and the earth derived from its digging was mounded up over the grave to make a barrow.