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It must have been a unhappy sight to come into when they found it.
That reminds me of an Iron Age archaeology class I had in college. During the Iron Age the people living in northern Europe would often "consecrate" a new well by sacrificing an old man and putting his body down there to guard the water. The cold temperature and peculiar chemical composition of the water at those depths often preserved the body. Now, our professor told us, when archaeologists find an ancient well the smallest person on the dig usually has to go down on a rope and look for the victim.
Incidentally, something that I found fascinating arose from this. There was a woman from Sweden in our class. She had never heard of this tradition of human sacrifice, but she told us that when she was a little girl her mother would tell her, "if you don't be good the little old man in the well will get you."
Social survivals from ancient times intrigue me no end!
Loretta