A Puzzling Body from the River Thames in London

Abstract

Radiocarbon measurements on a partially articulated female human skeleton, recovered from the foreshore of the river Thames in London, raised interesting questions of interpretation when the body did not produce the anticipated Neolithic date. A relatively recent 14C age and a strong marine component to the individual's diet, identified by stable isotope measurements, means that the date of death is difficult to estimate accurately, although the body probably does not constitute a forensic case.