Archaeologists have found a set of graves from around 2,000 years ago that contained cremated human remains, making a particularly intriguing discovery in one of the burials.
Researchers with the Regional Association of Westphalia-Lippe (LWL) uncovered the graves near the town of Fröndenberg in western Germany, just outside the city of Dortmund.
In recent years, clay mining activities in the area have uncovered evidence of ancient human settlement in the region, particularly dating to the Iron Age. But the latest findings took the LWL archaeologists by surprise.
"When a few remains of corpses were uncovered, it quickly became clear that we had found a small burial ground here," Eva Cichy of LWL Archeaology said in a press release.
In some of the graves, the remains of vessels used as burial urns for the cremated remains were still preserved, according to the researchers.
The team uncovered several small pits, as well as a larger one that is particularly noteworthy. This larger pit is oval-shaped and measures around three feet across. At the edge of the pit, the archaeologists found numerous particularly large ceramic shards. Some of these featured decorations, such as finger impressions.
Similar ceramic artifacts dated to the 3rd-2nd centuries B.C. have previously documented in other parts of Germany.
As well as the remains of burnt bones, the pit also contained a decorated spindle whorl—a disk-shaped object with a hole in the middle—and several loom weights. As the spindle whorl and loom weights were used for weaving, these findings indicate that the individual in the grave was likely a woman.
In another pit, the researchers found an exceptionally well-preserved flint arrowhead alongside ceramic shards from the Iron Age.
The arrowhead appears to be much older than the burial ground though, with the researchers determining that it was made by members of the Bell Beaker culture—a people who lived around 4,500 years ago in Europe.
The artifact may have been found by the people who dug the graves and placed with the dead intentionally. Alternatively, it may have fallen into the pit by chance while it was being dug or filled in.
Earlier this month, archaeologists announced the discovery of a mummy thought to be around 1,000 years old buried in a grave at the top of a large pyramid structure in Peru.
And in July, the discovery of an ancient pre-Hispanic cemetery in Colombia was reported by local media outlets.
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Aristos is a Newsweek science reporter with the London, U.K., bureau. He reports on science and health topics, including; animal, ... Read more
