SK30

3D Model

Skeleton 30 was excavated within Trench 7 during the 2015 season. It represents one of the better preserved skeletons to have been recovered that year. The grave cut through an earlier burial SK22 which has been carbon dated to the mid-6th-mid 7th century AD. Features visible on the skull such as the large and pointed mastoid process and the shape and size of the supraorbital ridge suggest that this individual was male. Furthermore, the 3rd molar has erupted and the cranial sutures fully fused suggesting that the individual was an older adult at the time of death.

As at most sites in Devon, the soil type at Ipplepen is fairly acidic. This isn’t great for bone preservation as bones and other organic materials usually deteriorate more quickly than in less acidic soils. Whilst many of the excavated skeletons at Ipplepen are very fragile, we were very lucky to have the level of preservation we did in comparison to other Devon sites, where very little organic material remains at all.