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Archaeologists investigating a mass burial of 97 infants at a Roman villa in the Thames Valley believe it may have been a brothel. Tests on the site at Hambleden in Buckinghamshire suggest all died at 40 weeks gestation, very soon after birth.
Archaeologists suspect local inhabitants may have been systematically killing unwanted babies. Archaeologist Dr Jill Eyers said: "The only explanation you keep coming back to is that it's got to be a brothel".
With little or no effective contraception, unwanted pregnancies could have been common at Roman brothels, explained Dr Eyers, who works for Chiltern Archaeology. And infanticide may not have been as shocking in Roman times as it is today.
Archaeological records suggest infants were not considered to be "full" human beings until about the age of two, said Dr Eyers. Children any younger than that age were not buried in cemeteries. As a result, infant burials tended to be at domestic sites in the Roman era.
Even so, say experts, the number at the Yewden villa at Hambleden is extraordinary.
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