History

Ancient DNA analysis has confirmed that a young boy and a teenage girl buried together in a 1,400-year-old Anglo-Saxon grave in Cherington, Gloucestershire, were brother and sister, and that they almost certainly died at the same time from a fast-acting infectious disease. The extraordinary discovery, made during excavations by Time Team and Operation Nightingale, in conjunction with Cotswold Archaeology, offers a rare and deeply human window into family bonds and the fragility of life in sixth-century England. The double burial stood out from the moment it was uncovered. The younger boy, aged around seven or eight, was laid to rest gripping an iron sword, while his older teenage sister was placed beside him, turned to face him and slightly elevated