Archaeologists stumbled upon the disturbing find after excavating a fifth-century AD cemetery in Pannonia. The area was then an ancient Roman province, now in modern-day western Hungary.

The researchers realised a significant portion of those buried there had unnaturally elongated skulls.

This kind of modification can be a tool for creating or maintaining different social identities

Zsófia Rácz

Archaeologists estimate approximately 51 of 96 men, women, and children buried in the Mözs-Icsei dűlő cemetery had oblong-shaped heads.

Zsófia Rácz, an Eötvös Loránd University archaeologist and her team performed sophisticated analysis in an attempt to learn more about those interned in the cemetery.

This involved isotope inspection of samples obtained from the skeletons’ bones and teeth.

The results revealed how 23 of the victims had strontium isotopes not found locally, suggesting they originated from elsewhere.

Archaeology news: A Roman cemetery excavation has unearthed a horrific ’modified head’ haul (Image: Knipper et al 2020)

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Archaeology news: Experts made the grisly discovery of deliberately-deformed skulls in an ancient burial ground (Image: Knipper et al 2020)

Archaeology news: 1,500 year-old modified skulls were also discovered in Croatia (Image: M. Kavka)

Ms Rácz said in a statement: “This kind of modification can be a tool for creating or maintaining different social identities.

“It may signify status, ethnicity, familial affiliations, or communal affiliations.”

Intriguingly, this swathe of land-locked Europe has long been associated with the practice of modifying human skulls.

Bio-archaeologist Mario Novak of the Institute for Anthropological Research in Zagreb suggests artificially-shaped heads may have been used by cultural groups in the years after the fall of the Roman Empire.

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Archaeology news: The researchers realised a significant portion of those buried there had unnaturally elongated skulls (Image: Express)

The second, whose skull had been elongated diagonally almost certainly carried East Asian ancestry.

And the skull of the third boy, who is thought to have come from West Eurasia, had not been modified.

Mr Novak added it remains unknown if artificial cranial deformation was a widespread practice in Europe at the time.