The remains of a girl who might have been burned alive were found in a pit in Italy, according to the Daily Mail. Excavators with the Pontifical Institute of Archaeology found her skeleton at San Calocero, but they believe she could have been burned in a different location before she was brought to her final resting place.
"Fire attacked her body when soft tissues were still present, so it could have occurred before death or soon after," said head excavator Elena Dellù. "We can't say whether she was alive or not when she was burnt."
The researchers who examined the girl's remains claim that she was a teenager from 15 to 17 years old, according to Ancient Origins. She might have been burned and buried after being accused of being a witch due to her pale complexion- a symptom of possible anemia.
"In past times, people who were seen in life as 'different' because they did not conform to society or suffered from unexplained ills, were sometimes buried with noncanonical rituals, for example - face down, with large stones on the body, burned, for example," said Dellù.
The girl was indeed buried with large stones on top of her grave, believed to be an attempt to prevent her soul from rising from the grave to wreck havoc.
In Sept. 2014, excavators found another skeleton of a girl 13-year-old girl, also buried face down, according to Discovery.
