Skeleton, Possibly 15th-Century Countess, Found Near Senate Building

A skeleton that may belong to a 15th-century countess has been discovered near a senate building in the Netherlands.

Archaeologists were excavating areas around the Binnenhof—a parliament building in the Dutch city The Hague—when they found the skeleton. It had been lying in the Hofkapel, a former chapel located in the parliament building.

Around eight skeletons were found buried here in total, local news outlet The Hague FM reported, but one is of particular interest as it may have belonged to a 15th-century countess known as Jacoba van Beieren. She was the countess of Holland, Zeeland and Hainaut in the Low Countries from 1417 to 1433.

In another 1770 excavation, archaeologists discovered a lock of the countess's hair in the same area, adding to this potential theory.

Archaeologists have also found an extended area of the Hofkapel known as the Waalse Kerk, or Walloon Church. This used to be a special entrance, Mignonne Lenoir, an archaeologist at the Municipality of The Hague told The Hague FM.

"Only the rich people of the court and the nobility entered the Hofkapel through this entrance," Lenoir told the news outlet.

The Binnenhof building has been significant all throughout Dutch history, meaning several other treasures from across different periods have been found here.

As well as the tombs and special burials dating back to the 15th and 16th centuries, glassware was found in the old cesspit. Of particular interest was a gold-plated foot, engraved with a lion.

It was surprising to find glass in this cesspit, according to Lenoir. "Normally, there's a lot of pottery in a cesspit, but there was hardly any in this one," Lenoir told The Hague FM.

Andjelko Pavlovic, an archaeologist working for the municipality of The Hague, said in a statement that, while tombs from the 15th and 16th centuries were very interesting, so was the architecture of the building built in the 13th century.

"We have established that the builders followed the dune relief when building the facade. This means that they first stacked eight or nine rows of bricks and then built a few rows up to just below ground level at the time," Pavlovic said.

"As a result, the masonry was not completely level because they had followed the dune. They then repaired it with a thin layer of stone and mortar. After that, they came out very nice and straight horizontally above ground level, so that they could continue bricklaying right up to the edge of the roof. I personally think that is a very nice new insight with regard to the construction of the Hofkapel," Pavlovic added.

Archaeologists will now look more closely at the findings to discover more concrete answers as to their role in history.

It could take up to two years to discover whether the skeleton found is actually the countess.

Do you have a tip on a science story that Newsweek should be covering? Do you have a question about archaeology? Let us know via science@newsweek.com.