An Anglo-Saxon man was killed in an 1,400-year-old mystery, experts have revealed.

The skeletal remains of the man, who died in the 7th century, were uncovered in Lincolnshire and show he suffered a grisly end to his life.

He had been on his hands and knees, with head bowed forward, when he suffered a single blow to the back of his neck from a sharp, heavy blade. 

The man’s attacker is thought to have used either a sword or a seax, the Old English word for iron single-edged knives.

Analysis of the victim’s bones has revealed that he was aged between 35 and 45, considered middle-aged in his day, and that he died between 635 and 655.

His grave is within a cemetery of around 20 burials dating from the late sixth or early seventh century, on the edge of the Callow Carr woodlands, within the Lincolnshire Wolds.

The discovery was made by Wessex Archaeology, which conducts excavations nationwide.

Dr Ceri Boston, Wessex’s osteoarchaeologist, told the Daily Mail: ‘It would have been a pretty frightening ending for this man. He had suffered a pretty nasty slice right down the back of his neck. 

‘Somebody came up behind him, probably hoping to kill him. Why this happened, or what he had done to deserve this, we don’t know.’

The skeletal remains were uncovered in a field in Lincolnshire and reveal the man, who died in the 7th century, suffered a grisly end to his life

The excavation of the site in Lincolnshire. The discovery of the Anglo-Saxon murder mystery was made by Wessex Archaeology, which conducts excavations nationwide

She added: ‘The angle of the blow suggests the injury is more likely to have occurred in a brawl or skirmish, possibly as the victim was trying to escape. He was not going to live for long with an injury like that. 

‘I didn’t find any other sword cuts that would suggest he was finished off in another way. But you won’t see those wounds if they got into the soft tissue.’

The analysis has included strontium and oxygen isotopes and DNA, which can reveal where an individual grew up and their ancestry. Tests suggest that this man had spent his early years in north-eastern Britain, northern France or Germany.

‘There’s no indication or suggestion that they were killed because they weren’t local to the area,’ Dr Boston said, noting that the man had come to Lincolnshire as a child, perhaps aged eight, according to the scientific evidence.

He was clearly accepted within his community because he had been laid to rest with a knife and a buckle, just like others within the same cemetery.

Both the buckle and the knife were found near the skeleton’s waist, suggesting that they had once been attached to a leather or fabric belt that perhaps held a sheath.

This was a period in which people were being converted to Christianity, Dr Boston said: ‘They’re not buried yet in churchyards. That happens a century or two later. But they’ve been buried out in the countryside.’

Dietary isotopes reflect that this was a farming community that existed on a mixed animal and plant diet.

Dr Boston said: ‘When you look at the skeletons in general, the people had been a fairly healthy lot. But there’s a lot of muscle pull on the bones and arthritis, showing the physical stresses suffered. Fractures and soft trauma speak of a physically strenuous agrarian lifestyle engaged in by both sexes.’

She added that the difficulty of their lives is reflected in evidence of long-term exposure to damp or smoky air in some individuals, perhaps from open fires or smelting iron, for example.

Although much of the archaeological work was conducted between 2020 and 2021 for the onshore route of Viking Link, the 475-mile electricity interconnector between Great Britain and Denmark, the discoveries have needed time to be analysed and this particular grave is only being announced today