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| After conservation, the buckle, with textile remnants visible on the head. (Photo courtesy of H. Bezinová and R. Ernochová, Institute of Archaeology of the A SCR) |
Other nearby skeletons had been looted, but the woman's grave
had remained undisturbed.
A woman was buried with a treasure chest of valuable items in
eastern Bohemia (now the Czech Republic) about 1,600 years ago, including a
headdress and four silver buckles inlaid with gold and studded with
semiprecious stones.
The fifth-century burial was discovered in 2019 by
archaeologists from the East Bohemian Museum in Hradec Králové, Czech Republic,
and their preliminary findings were recently published in a statement. The
headdress, which was embellished with golden disks, was an exceptional find. A
bone comb, a ceramic pot, and an iron knife were also found near the skeletons.
Five other graves at the burial site held skeletons, but
looters plundering the corpses soon after burial robbed them of any useful
items. Just a few common grave items, such as knives and a sword, remained
untouched, according to the researchers.
The woman's age when she died was estimated to be between 35
and 50 years old, according to researchers. They found fabric from two separate
textiles on the silver buckles: one was most likely the piece of clothing that
the buckles clasped together, and the other may have been a dress or cloth that
covered the woman's body at the funeral. Leather and fur traces were also found
on the buckles, probably from another garment, according to the researchers.
Chemical traces of some fats and acids were found on the ceramic pot, implying
that it was used for cooking and storing meat.
The people in the graves were all between the ages of 16 and
55 when they died, but most of the skeletons had been looted so badly that the
sex of the individuals could not be determined. Near inspection of individual
bones, on the other hand, revealed some information about the deceased people's
wellbeing.
Cancer traces were discovered on the skull and pelvis of one
individual, according to the researchers. Some of the bones showed signs of
arthritis, and one person's leg bones showed asymmetry in muscle mass,
indicating that they preferred one leg — possibly due to a stroke.
Radiocarbon dating will be used in future studies to further
determine the ages of the graves. The ratios of oxygen isotopes (different
types of the same element with different numbers of neutrons) could reveal
whether the individuals were native to the area or migrated there from
somewhere else. Other chemical analysis of the bones may reveal what these
people ate and whether their diets changed significantly over their lives.
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| Detail of a textile found during the grave excavation. (Image credit: Photo by H. Březinová, R Černochová,
Institute of Archaeology of the ASCR) |
According to the statement, the DNA analysis, which will be
performed in collaboration with scientists at the Max Planck Institute in
Leipzig, Germany, and the Institute of Archaeology and Museology at Masaryk
University in Brno, Czech Republic, is expected to yield significant results.
According to the scientists, we could learn more about the
dead's kinship and where they came from.
Published By Live Science. Read Original Article Here.
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