About 1600 years ago, a woman was buried in eastern Bohemia (now the Czech Republic) with a treasure trove of precious objects, including a headdress and four silver buckle with insert gold and studded with semi-precious stones.
Archaeologists with the East Bohemian Museum in Hradec Králové, Czech Republic, found the fifth-century burial in 2019 and recently described their first findings in a statement. One exceptional find was the headdress, adorned with gold slices. Glass beads, a bone comb, a ceramic pot and an iron knife also lay near the remains.
Five other graves at the cemetery contained skeletons, but looters cleared them of all precious artifacts and plundered the bodies soon after the funeral. Only a handful of everyday objects in the graves, such as knives and a sword, were untouched, the scientists reported.
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Researchers have estimated that the woman was between 35 and 50 years old when she died. They identify pieces of material on the silver buckle that belong to two different textiles; one was probably the garment that fastened the buckle together, and the other was perhaps a coat or cloth that covered the woman’s body during the funeral. The scientists also found traces of leather and fur on the buckle, possibly from another garment. Analysis of the ceramic pot revealed chemical traces of certain fats and acids, suggesting that it was used to cook and store meat.
All the people in the graves were between 16 and 55 years old when they died, but most of the skeletons were so badly damaged by looters that it was impossible to determine the sex of the individuals. However, some clues about the health of the deceased have been examined by individual bones.
“In one individual, traces of cancer were found on the skull and pelvis,” the researchers said in the statement. Some bones showed signs of arthritis, and the leg bones of one person showed that they carried muscle mass asymmetrically, indicating that they preferred one leg – perhaps due to a stroke.
Further tests will include dating of radiocarbon, to more accurately determine the ages of the graves. Evidence in the ratios of oxygen isotopes (variations of the same element with different numbers of neutrons) can further show whether the individuals were locally in the region or that they migrated there from another place. Other chemical analyzes of the bones can tell scientists what these people eat and whether their diet has changed dramatically during their lifetime.
The researchers also expect that “significant results of the DNA analysis, “which will be carried out with scientists at the Max Planck Institute in Leipzig, Germany, and the Institute of Archeology and Museology at the Masaryk University in Brno, Czech Republic, according to the statement.
“Perhaps we will learn more about the relationship of the dead and where they came from,” the scientists said.
Originally published on Live Science.