Summary justice or the King’s will? the first case of formal facial mutilation from Anglo-Saxon England

This paper presents the first archaeological evidence for specific facial mutilation from
Anglo-Saxon England, involving removal of the nose, upper lip and possible scalping,
inflicted upon a young adult female of about 18 years of age. The injuries are consistent with
documented punishments for female thieving slaves and adulteresses. Although mutilations of
this kind do not appear in the written record until the tenth century AD, the instance reported
here suggests that the practice emerged a century earlier. This case is examined against a
wider consideration of the motivations and meaning of facial disfigurement in past societies.