900-year-old grave reveals caesarean attempt to save baby

A 900-year-old grave of a mother and her daughter shows signs of an attempted Caesarean operation, scientists said yesterday.

The 12th century grave - unearthed at Wharram Percy, England’s best preserved medieval village near Malton, North Yorkshire - held the remains of a 25- to 30-year-old woman with a baby between her thighs.

Analysis of the remains by English Heritage specialists showed that the woman died during her pregnancy, which was 10 weeks short of full-term, and the foetus was cut free from the womb in an attempt to save it.

Simon Mays, skeletal biologist at English Heritage’s Centre for Archaeology, said the find contradicts the notion that medieval people got used to death and instead suggests that life was precious, with people prepared to carry out drastic acts to preserve it.

Dr Mays said: “The most likely explanation for this double burial is that the pregnant women died of tuberculosis and the foetus was cut free from the womb in the hope it might survive.

“It’s probable the foetus was found to be dead, or died soon afterwards, and so was buried with its mother.” He said very few burials have been found in Britain which offer evidence of possible Caesarean operations.

The grave was the only burial of its kind discovered at Wharram Percy, where 687 skeletons were unearthed during a 40-year excavation - the longest dig in British archaeological history.