THE mystery of why nearly 50 "headless" bodies were found in an ancient mass burial site is to be brought to the small screen.

The Evening Press exclusively revealed in February 2005 that archaeologists had uncovered an "extraordinary" Roman cemetery near The Mount, in York.

The location was not a surprise, since the Roman road which ran along the line of the present Tadcaster Road was lined with cemeteries.

What was very surprising was that of the 56 skeletons that were found, 49 were of those of young men, most of whose heads had been removed.

One of the bodies was still bound with shackles.

This find was considered so unusual that Patrick Ottaway, of the York Archaeological Trust (YAT), said: "That really is odd. We've never had anything like that before, in Roman Britain or the Roman world."

Theories being considered at the time were that the young men may have been killed in battle or executed, or that the decapitation may have been part of a ritual.

Now those theories and more are set to be aired in a BBC2 Timewatch programme, due to be aired at 9pm, on April 21.

The YAT team investigating the find considered that the bodies probably dated from about 200AD - the time that the emperor Septimus Severus came to York as he marched north to try to subdue the tribes living in what is now Scotland.

A national newspaper colour supplement has suggested that the bodies may be those of the victims of a Roman "purge" during violence following the death of Severus, and the accession of his son, Caracalla, who set out on a campaign of bloodshed claiming the life of his brother, Geta, among many others.

But who exactly could these people have been? One theory is that they were courtiers and army officers who had favoured Geta in the succession stakes. Another that the Roman governor of Britain could have fallen out of favour with Caracalla and been executed, along with his followers.

Another idea mooted in the magazine was that these people could have been gladiators, forced to fight each other to the death.

But one piece of evidence which undercuts any theory that the deceased were killed in combat is the absence of other injuries, apart from those inflicted during the decapitation.