from daily mail: These are the 800 year old remains of what archaeologists believe was a witch from the Middle Ages after seven nails were found driven through her jaw bone. The grim discovery was made during a dig on what is thought to be a ‘witches graveyard’ after another woman’s skeleton was found surrounded by 17 dice – a game which women were forbidden from playing 800 years ago.

Some of the commenters at Mail Online think that these women were more likely thought to be revenants. The nails may have served to prevent the undead from harassing the living just as the stones wedged in the jaws of skeletons did in a recent find in Ireland. The article also notes that these women were likely of high social class: “The only possible explanation is that perhaps both women came from influential families and were not peasant class and so because of their class and connections were able to secure burial in consecrated Christian ground.”