ARCHAEOLOGISTS have unearthed the remains of a girl they say was murdered.

But the investigation may prove too much for even the best detectives, because the murder took place 1,800 years ago.

The remains of the child, thought to be aged about nine, were found in a shallow pit in the corner of a barrack room floor at Vindolanda Roman fort, near Bardon Mill, Northumberland.

Durham University biological anthropologist Dr Trudy Buck said that from the body’s position in the pit, the hands could have been tied together.

The pit in the barracks dated to the mid-Third Century, when the Fourth Cohort of Gauls formed the garrison.

Dr Andrew Birley, Vindolanda’s director of excavations, said that in the Thirties, his grandfather, Eric Birley, found two skeletons beneath a floor at nearby Housesteads Fort, one of whom had a knife blade in the ribs – dating from before 370 AD.

He said: “I shudder to think how this young person met their fate.”