Medieval Sword in Excellent Condition Accidentally Found in a Peat Bog in Poland

Ancient Origins

An excavator operator who was working in a peat bog in Poland last month, accidentally discovered a magnificent 14th century longsword, which is in an extremely good condition. Experts believe that this is a unique find to the region.

 Stunning 14th Century Sword Discovered in Great Condition
As Gizmodo reports, Wojciech Kot, an excavator operator who discovered the long-sword in the peat bog in the Polish municipality of Mircze, has donated the sword to the Fr. Stanislaw Staszic Museum. Museum experts are currently examining the weapon, while the preparations for an organized archaeological expedition have already started.

 Even though the long sword has been corroded over time, archaeologists reassure say that this is normal due to the fact that it had been in the bog for more than six centuries. The only part missing from the long sword is the original hilt, which was thought to have been made from antler, bone or wood.

 Initially, the impressive sword measured 47 inches long (120 cm), and weighed only 3.3 pounds (1.5 kg), “The elongated grip was intended for two-handed use which coupled with its long reach and light weight made the sword an agile weapon for armored knights in battle. This design is typical of the 14th century,” notes The History Blog.

The Long Sword. Image: Fr. Stanisław Staszic Museum

The Sword’s Origins
The rear bar of the sword features an isosceles cross inscribed inside the shape of a heraldic shield, which was most likely created by the blacksmith. Museum’s director Bartłomiej Bartecki focused on the find’s uniqueness, “This is a unique find in the region. It is worth pointing out that while there are similar artefacts in museum collections, their places of discovery is often unknown, and that is very important information for historians and archaeologists,” he stated as Gizmodo reports. As to how the sword ended up in a peat bog, Staszic explained, “It’s possible that an unlucky knight was pulled into the marsh, or simply lost his sword.” The History Blog, however, attempts to give a more detailed explanation about the sword’s likely origins:

 “The area is first appears on the historical record in the 13th century where it’s mentioned as the site of a few hunting lodges surrounded by forest. The region was part of Ruthenia (aka the Kievan Rus) then and was absorbed by the Kingdom of Poland in 1366 century after the disintegration of the Rus. The Polish governor built a castle in Hrubieszów in the late 14th century. So at least the second half of the century offered good employment opportunity for knights. Or he could have just been riding through and made a wrong turn into the bog.”

The sword found in the peat bog in Poland. Photo: PAP/ Wojciech Pacewicz

Excavation Expected at the Peat Bog
 In the coming days, a team of Polish archaeologists will return to the discovery site to carry out limited excavations at the peat bog. No bones have been found near the sword's location, but the team hopes to find any possible artifacts or other belongings from the knight. As for the sword, it is expected to undergo conservation in Warsaw, "This treatment will also help determine its owner. We believe that there could be engraved signs on the blade near the hilt; those were most often made by swordmakers who marked swords for the knights. This could help us determine the origin of the weapon," Bartecki told PAP, and assured that after the conservation and analysis end, the sword will become part of the main exhibition at the Museum in Hrubieszów.

Top image: Bartłomiej Bartecki, director of the Museum in Hrubieszów presents the sword found in the Commune of Mircze. Photo: PAP/ Wojciech Pacewicz

By Theodoros Karasavvas

Discovery of a Medieval Well Raises New Questions About Nazis and a Polish Castle

Ancient Origins

A team of Polish researchers has discovered a well which dates back to medieval times. It is located in the famous castle of Książ in Wałbrzych, Lower Silesia, Poland. Although they previously believed that it may have been a part of a system of tunnels created by Nazis, the real story of the well may be even more fascinating.

According to Gazeta Wyborcza, the well was found under the floor of a tower discovered last July. It is quadrilateral and without any visible damages. One side of the well is 2.5 meters (8.2 ft.) wide, and it is about 50 meters (164 ft.) deep. The tower which covered the mysterious well was discovered while cleaning the road area near the castle. It is dated back to the 18th century and was depicted on drawings of the castle. The well was examined with a camera, which confirmed that the discovery is very rare and will bring much more information after it is further explored by the researchers.

A photo taken inside of the well at Książ Castle in Wałbrzych, Poland. (ZWIK Łódź)

However, the future works will be demanding, and it's necessary to apply more analysis before the team will be able to continue. During the first exploration, they found chisels, but it is unknown what period they come from. It is possible that the medieval well was closed after the18th century, which makes the discovery extremely interesting.

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The Castle of Książ is one of the most iconic in Poland. Originally built in the early medieval period, it was destroyed in 1263. The new castle was created at the end of the 13th century, and through history it had many different owners, including the famous Hochberg family. During World War II, the castle was held by the Nazis. Nowadays, Książ Castle is considered one of the pearls of the region. In this area there are more stories about hidden chests, trains, and chambers where Nazis could have hidden treasures than places for them to actually have hidden it.

A decorated room inside Książ Castle. (Dariusz Cierpiał/CC BY SA 3.0)

Essentially, every Polish city which belonged to the Germans in the past has stories related to lost loot. One of the most interesting tales is about the precious treasures of Daisy of Pless and her possible lover Emperor Wilhelm II. However, it's only a legend. The treasures from this story were stolen by the Russian army, and any that survived are currently exhibited in a museum.
Wałbrzych, like many other places in Silesia, still hides many secrets. Recently, another group of researchers was trying to find the legendary Nazi train that is said to be filled with treasures. As April Holloway wrote on November 9, 2015:

''Headlines were made around the world as treasure hunters identified a legendary Nazi train packed with weapons, gold, money, and archives hidden in a long-forgotten tunnel in the Polish mountains. It is believed that the train may also contain the long-lost Amber Room of Charlottenburg Palace, an early 1700s room crafted from amber, gold, and precious jewels, estimated to now be worth $385 million.”

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Hand-colored photograph of the original Amber Room, 1931. (Public Domain)

Holloway continued:

“Poland’s Culture Ministry announced that the location of the Nazi train was revealed to Piotr Koper of Poland and Andreas Richter of Germany through a deathbed confession.  The Telegraph reported that two treasure-hunters found the 100-meter-long armored train and immediately submitted a claim to the Polish government – under Polish law those who find treasures can keep 10 per cent of the value of their find. The Polish Ministry has confirmed the location of the train using ground-penetrating radar. The train is said to be located in an underground tunnel constructed by the Nazis along a 4km stretch of track on the Wroclaw-Walbrzych line. However, its exact location is being kept hidden, not least because it is believed to be booby trapped or mined and will need to be investigated through a careful operation conducted by the Army, Police, and Fire Brigade.''

Researchers still haven’t been lucky enough to find the legendary train and its rich contents. However, they have already announced that the search will continue.
Top Image: Książ castle in Wałbrzych, Lower Silesia, Poland. (Piotr Bieniecki/ CC BY SA 4.0) Detail: A photo taken inside the newly discovered well. (ZWIK Łódź)

 By Natalia Klimczak

A Polish Stonehenge? Discovery of New Burial Mounds May Rewrite History

Ancient Origins

A group of previously unknown burial mounds has been discovered near Czaplinek in north-western Poland. The most interesting feature found so far is a stone ring, which is shaped similar to the world-famous site of Stonehenge. The complex sheds a new light on the history of these lands.

The team of Polish archaeologists from the Koszalin city museum unearthed a complex in an area previously known to have had an Iron Age site. According to RMF24.pl, the team of researchers found an urn burial with cremated remains inside. Apart from this, several precious artifacts were discovered inside the urn, including a bronze buckle, bone pin, and a clay spindle whorl - which allowed them to conclude that the burial contains a woman’s ashes.

The first artifacts from the site. (Muzeum w Koszalinie)

The site also contains burial mounds which were enclosed with stone rings. The researchers claim that the rings may be similar to the sequence of stones used in Stonehenge – with larger stones connected with a row of smaller ones.

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The large stones were overturned through the ages, but it is still possible to find their original location. Archaeologists were able to identify the layout of the stone ring with the large stone in its center. The scientists believe that it was a place for religious ceremonies and ritual burials. The mounds were dated back to a period between the 1st and 3rd centuries AD.

The mound under investigation near Czaplinek. (Muzeum w Koszalinie)

The complex near Czaplinek is one of a few big complexes of mounds and megaliths in Poland. One famous complex is located in Odry, a small village in Pomerania in the north of Poland. This location became famous with the discovery of the second biggest site of stone circles in Europe. It is also known to be the home of at least 600 Neolithic burials. The site was discovered in 1915 by Paul Stephan, who identified various stellar alignments on the assumption that the construction dates back to the 8th century BC.
Archaeologists still debate the origins of the huge burial center amongst the Odry stone rings. It is difficult to agree upon one explanation for the stone circles’ roots. It is also almost impossible to find out how old the constructions discovered in Odry really are. It is known that the area was settled by the Goths at one point in time, but the earlier history of the region has never been confirmed.

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For many centuries, these kinds of places were damaged in Poland. The worst devastation took place during the 19th century, when people destroyed old kurgans (prehistoric burial mounds or barrows), stone circles, and other Neolithic constructions to prepare farmers’ fields. Thus, it is not surprising that most of the Neolithic sites that have been found are located in the forest. It could be said that the caring tree roots saved them and protected them over the centuries.
This is another discovery of megalithic tombs made in Poland this year. During the last few years, every few months has brought a new discovery. For example, Natalia Klimczak reported on March 2, 2016 for Ancient Origins that more than a dozen monumental megalithic tombs were discovered in Western Pomerania in Poland. Because of the enormous character of the structures, they are often called the ‘Polish pyramids.’ The site is located near Dolice, Western Pomerania. She writes:

“The ground structures were made in a shape of an elongated triangle, surrounded by big stone blocks. The structures stood 3 meters (9.8 feet) tall, and were 150 meters (492.1 feet) long, and 6-15 meters (19.7-49.2 feet) wide. The place where they are located is difficult to examine. The surface is covered by an old forest. On small sites archaeologists have discovered fragments of pottery and other artifacts. The tombs were created by the Funnel Beaker Culture community which lived on the land from the 5th to the 3rd millennium BC.”

An example of a Funnel Beaker Culture Dolmen (single-chamber megalithic tomb) in Lancken-Granitz, Germany. (Skäpperöd/CC BY SA 3.0)

In that discovery “the mounds contain single burials. According to the researchers, the people who were buried in the tombs were important elders of the tribe. Other information may be available after the researchers summarize more data and explore the sites further. Until now, the research has been based on non-invasive methods.”
Top Image: Part of the recently discovered site in Czaplinek, Poland. Source: Muzeum w Koszalinie
By Natalia Klimczak

Polish Museum Claims to Have Located the Elusive Amber Room that Was Stolen by Nazis

Ancient Origins

After 60 years of hunting for the missing Amber Room, a magnificent treasure stolen by the Nazis, a museum in Poland suggests that they know where is it located. This is the second time within a year that rumors have run rampant about the treasure being located in Poland.

The Mamerki museum near Węgorzewo, in north east Poland, is one of the most interesting forts related to World War II. The area is still full of secrets (and perhaps a hidden treasure.) According to TVN24, this place has also been connected with the legendary Amber Room, which was created for the Russian tsar Peter the Great in the 1700s.

The original Amber Room, 1931. (Public Domain)

The museum in Mamerki (in German: Mauerwald) recently reported that they have discovered an unknown room measuring 3 meters (9.84 ft.) long and 2 meters (6.56 ft.) wide. Using geo-radar, they say that they’ve found a secret hidden place located inside an old wartime bunker.

The geo-radar reading the museum says shows the existence of the hidden bunker. (Mamerki Museum)
The Amber Room was stolen by the Nazis and was allegedly on its way to becoming one of Adolf Hitler’s greatest treasures when it was lost. The Amber Room originally contained 450kg (992.08lb) of amber decorated with gold, pieces of art, jewels, and mirrors. It was located in St Petersburg from the times of Peter the Great, until the day when the Nazis dismantled it and decided to transport it to Königsberg Castle (Kaliningrad) (which was controlled by them at the time). It was during this transport that it was said to have accidentally disappeared. Strangely enough, the documentation connected with the transport was lost too.

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The suggestion that the Amber Room may be hidden in Mamerki is just one of the hypotheses related to the Amber Room’s location, but the researchers are convinced that it is much more. As Bartlomiej Plebanczyk from the museum told MailOnline:

''We think there is a very good chance that the Amber Room is here for a number of reasons. Of course there were no such devices as ground-penetrating radar in the 1950s, so examining and finding hidden spaces wasn't possible. Inside may be elements of the Amber Chamber, but also other looted art. But there is no doubt that the room was created specifically for the purpose of treasure.''

Evidence for the hypothesis comes from a former Nazi guard who told Polish soldiers in the 1950s, that during the winter of 1944 he saw trucks driving up to the bunker. The trucks were said to have been heavily-guarded and they left their large cargo in Mamerki. At the time, the Polish bomb squads looked for proof, but they didn't find anything. The mysterious room  where the treasure is thought to be, will be opened during the next few weeks.

The bunker in Poland where the Amber Room may be located. (TVN24)

In 1982, the Russians started to build a replica of the Amber Room. After 20 years, visitors to Catherine Palace, near St Petersburg, can enjoy the beauty of this incredible place once again. Nonetheless, the obsession of treasure hunters in discovering the real Amber Room is still prevalent. During the last 60 years, many of them have lost their lives or suffered from health problems by searching for it.
In August 2015, Ancient Orgins reported that treasure hunters claimed to have identified a legendary Nazi train packed with gold and other treasure, hidden in a long-forgotten tunnel in the Polish mountains. It was said that the train may also contain the long-lost Amber Room. However, it seems to be unlikely that the train will be explored in the near future. Some of the experts suggested that this location may not even contain a train at all.

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Apart from this, there are many other possible hypotheses about the current location of the Amber Room. Some researchers believe that the Amber Room has never left Kaliningrad, and it is buried in the ruins of the city.

Königsberg Castle, 1925. (Public Domain)

Another idea says that it was transported on one of two ships - the Steuben or Wilhelm Gustloff. Both of them sank in the Baltic Sea during World War II. Yet another hypothesis claims that the Amber Room is located in a hidden place somewhere in Russia.
In the 1990s, newspapers in Poland and Russia quoted eyewitnesses who swore that they saw the real Amber Room in a house of one of the noble Russians. This rumor has never been confirmed.  Finally, some people also believe that they can find the Amber Room in Germany. For example, an amateur group of treasure hunters hopes to find it in the city of Wuppertal.

Corner section of the reconstructed Amber Room. (Public Domain)

Featured Image: Tsarskoye Selo, Catherine Palace. The Amber Room as it would have appeared in 1917. Source: Public Domain
By Natalia Klimczak

Polish Archaeologists Discover Rare Gift from Father of Cleopatra

Ancient Origins

A linen cloth that was once given as a gift by the father of legendary Egyptian Queen Cleopatra VII has been discovered by Polish archaeologists during excavations in Western Thebes, now the modern city of Luxor. The cloth was given to an Egyptian temple.
The archaeologists were exploring a deep shaft in a tomb belonging to a dignitary from Ancient Egypt’s Middle Kingdom (around 2000 BC). The tomb is located in the necropolis of Sheikh Abd el-Qurna, later occupied by Coptic Christian monks living on the site as hermits during the 6^th century AD.
“Probably the monks living in the hermitage, who were bringing everything they could use from the surrounding area, found the canvas in the ruins of a nearby temple and took it with a practical use in mind” Deputy Head of Mission Andrzej Ćwiek told Science In Poland. “We were lucky to discover this unique object.”
Ćwiek is employed by Adam Mickiewicz University and the Archaeological Museum in Poznań. The excavations have been conducted under concessions obtained by the Centre of Mediterranean Archaeology of the University of Warsaw.

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The linen fragment has a hieroglyphic text painted on it in ink. Two columns of cartouches with ornamental borders surrounding the name of the Pharaoh, Ptolemy XII Auletes (80-51 BC) who was the father of Cleopatra VII. In the 3^rd century, a scribe added the name of the goddess Isis. The fragment is from a velum, a curtain that was used to cover a holy image, such as a statue of a deity, in the Temple of Hathor near Deir el-Medina. The velum was probably Ptolemy XII’s gift to the deity, given that his cartouches can be seen on the gate of the temple. According to Dr. Ćwiek, this indicates that the Pharaoh was involved in the creation of the temple. He could have funded temple equipment including the provision of the velum.

Temple of Hathor, Deir el-Medina (Wikimedia Commons)

Deir el-Medina is the site of a workman’s village, once used to accommodate workmen employed in the construction of the royal tombs in the famous Valley of the Kings, where the tomb of Tutankhamen is located. Although the temple is primarily dedicated to Hathor, the Egyptian cow goddess, it also has sanctuaries in honor of Amun-Sokar-Osiris and Amun-Re-Osiris – Osiris and Amun or Amun-Re respectively. Osiris was the Egyptian god of the dead and god of the underworld, but he was also a god of fertility and agriculture.
The identification of the item was assisted by Prof. Ewa Laskowska-Kusztal from the Institute of Mediterranean and Oriental Culture PAS.
The archaeologists also found other artifacts among the debris in the shaft, which is several meters deep. These included fragments of mud brick from the Pharaonic and Coptic period, wooden coffins, small faience beads and amulets, and ushebti clay figurines (funerary figures intended to serve the deceased in the afterlife). Large quantities of these figurines were placed in tombs in order to assist the deceased after his death, in accordance with a command by the god Osiris. The investigation is far from over and excavations of the site will continue in February 2016.

Ushebti clay figurines discovered in the shaft, Luxor, Egypt (M. Kaczanowicz)

Cleopatra was the last Ptolemaic ruler of Ancient Egypt. After her death, Egypt became a province of the Roman Empire. The Ptolemaic dynasty was of Macedonian Greek origin. It ruled the country following the death of Alexander The Great in the Hellenistic Period. Although the Ptolemies refused to speak Egyptian, preferring Greek, Cleopatra herself did learn Egyptian and presented herself during her rule as the reincarnation of the goddess Isis, the consort of Osiris. Following the assassination of Julius Caesar, Cleopatra allied herself and Egypt with Marc Antony in opposition to Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus, later called Augustus. After Antony committed suicide when he lost the Battle of Actium to Octavian, Cleopatra also committed suicide. She had three children: twins, a daughter, Cleopatra Selene II and son, Alexander Helios, and another son, Ptolemy Philadelphus.

Drawing of Cleopatra by Michelangelo (1534) (Wikimedia Commons)

Cleopatra has been made famous through her depiction in many works of literature and art, from the famous Shakespeare play through to the 1963 Hollywood movie of the same name, Antony and Cleopatra, starring Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor.
Featured image: Cloth Gifted by Ptolemy XII Auletes to the Temple of Hathor, (A. Ćwiek)

'Harry Potter-style' wizardry school comes to life in Poland

BBC World News

For Harry Potter fans, a castle in Czocha in south-western Poland has been transformed into a school of wizardry.
For four days sorcerers are taking part in live action role plays where they can "tame magical creatures in the forest".

Buried Polish 'Vampires' Likely Had Cholera

A 30-39 year old "vampire" female, buried with a sickle placed across the neck.

by Rossella Lorenzi
News Discovery


“Vampires” buried in northwestern Poland with large stones wedged into their mouths or sickles over their necks were local people probably affected by cholera, says the first biogeochemical study of human skeletal remains from deviant burials.

The study investigated 285 human skeletons which were excavated between 2008-2012 from a post medieval cemetery in Drawsko, a rural settlement site in northwestern Poland. Dating to the 17th and 18th centuries, the remains represented individuals of all ages and both sexes.     

      

Among the interments, six were identified as so-called vampire burials. They included an adult male, a late adolescent female, three adult females, and a younger person of unknown sex.

“Of these six individuals, five were interred with a sickle placed across the throat or abdomen, intended to remove the head or open the gut should they attempt to rise from the grave,” Lesley Gregoricka from University of South Alabama and colleagues, wrote in the open-access journal PLOS ONE.

The remaining two people were found with large stones positioned beneath their chins -- evidence, the researchers say, that it was feared the individuals would rise from their graves to bite others.
Gregoricka and colleagues first hypothesized the people buried as vampires were targeted because of their outsider status as immigrants.

Indeed, abundant written evidence for the post-medieval period describes many waves of immigrants entering into Poland during that time.

To test their hypothesis, the researchers tested permanent molars from 60 individuals, including the six "vampires,” using radiogenic strontium isotope ratios from archaeological dental enamel. Local animals, including hare, mice and fox, were also sampled.

“While historic records describe the many potential reasons why some people were considered at increased risk of becoming a vampire, no previous study had attempted to examine the identity of these individuals using chemical analyses of the human skeleton,” Gregoricka told Discovery News.

Strontium isotopes incorporated into teeth during growth and development can tell about the place someone grew up, whether the individual moved later and whether the person was buried somewhere different from where they spent their childhood.

"Contrary to our hypothesis, we found that all of the vampires were local," Gregoricka said.

      

"We actually found others in the cemetery that were non-local to the region, but were not buried as vampires," she added.

According to the researchers, there should be another reason for the deviant burials, since the targeted individuals were not suspected of becoming vampires due to their identity as non-locals.
Gregoricka and colleagues propose cholera epidemics as an alternative explanation.

Multiple waves of cholera epidemics struck Europe during the post-medieval period, but people were unaware that cholera was a bacteria spread through contaminated drinking water.

“There was no scientific understanding of how infectious disease was spread. Instead, because they couldn’t explain it, they attributed cholera to the supernatural -- specifically, to vampires,” Gregoricka said.

In this view, the first person to die in an epidemic was thought to seek revenge on the living by returning from the grave to inflict the illness upon others, causing the disease to spread.
“As such, if these six individuals were the first to die in a series of cholera outbreaks that affected Drawsko during the post-medieval period, they may have been buried in this way as a means of preventing them from returning as vampires and attacking the living,” Gregoricka said.

“Disease is often discussed as a possible cause for deviant burials in Europe," said biological anthropologist Kristina Killgrove. "In the case of these post-medieval Polish burials, cholera certainly could be an explanation."

“Unfortunately, cholera leaves no marks on bone, so it's not possible to tell by looking at the skeletons whether or not they suffered from the disease,” she added.

Gas chambers unearthed at demolished Nazi concentration camp

Archaeologists uncover previously hidden ruins at Sobibor death camp in Poland, which was razed after a 1943 uprising

Archeologist Anna Zalewska works among the brick walls thought to be the ruins of gas chambers at the Sobibor camp. Photograph: Kacper Pempel/Reuters

Archaeologists working at the site of the Nazi concentration camp at Sobibor, in eastern Poland, say they have uncovered previously hidden gas chambers in which an estimated quarter of a million Jews were killed.
German forces tried to erase all traces of the camp when they closed it down after an uprising there on 14 October 1943. The Nazis demolished the gas chambers and an asphalt road was later built over the top.
Archaeologists excavated beneath the road and found lines of bricks, laid four deep, where they believe the walls of the gas chambers used to stand.
They have been able to establish how big the chambers were, information they said would help build up a more precise picture of how many people were murdered at the camp.
"Finally, we have reached our goal – the discovery of the gas chambers. We were amazed at the size of the building and the well-preserved condition of the chamber walls," said Yoram Haimi, one of the archaeologists.
Haimi said two of his own uncles, who had been living in Paris during the war and were rounded up by the Germans, were among those killed at Sobibor.
The archaeologists said that among the personal items they had found buried near the gas chambers was a wedding ring which carried the inscription, in Hebrew: "Behold, you are consecrated unto me."
A golden ring inscribed in Hebrew which was unearthed by archaeologists at Sobibor. Photograph: Kacper Pempel/Reuters Historians say that because the Germans razed the camp, and because so few of those detained there came out alive to give testimony, there is less information about how Sobibor operated and the scale of the killing than there is for some other concentration camps.
The Polish archaeologist Wojciech Mazurek, who has also been involved in uncovering the site, said the excavations revealed there were eight gas chambers.
"The extermination of people took place there; murder by smoke from an engine that killed everyone within 15 minutes in these gas chambers, in torment, shouting," he told Reuters Television.
"It is said that … the Nazis even bred geese in order to drown out these shouts so that prisoners could not have heard these shouts, these torments."
According to Israel's Yad Vashem International Institute for Holocaust Research, the 1943 uprising was organised by Jewish civilians at the camp and Jewish officers in the Soviet army who had been taken prisoner and sent to Sobibor.
About 300 people escaped, but most were caught and killed. Those who did not take part in the breakout were also killed. At the end of the second world war, about 50 escapees were left alive.
The research project at Sobibor is being carried out in coordination with the Yad Vashem institute, the German-Polish Foundation, and the Majdanek State Museum, near the Polish city of Lublin.

theguardian

'Vampire' Skeleton Unearthed in Poland

by Rossella Lorenzi

 

Archaeologists in Poland say they have discovered a skeleton with a brick stuck into the mouth — evidence that the subject was believed to be a vampire.
Dated to the 16th-17th century, the grave was unearthed during excavations in the town of Kamien Pomorski, in northwestern Poland, the Kamienskie.info website reported.
In addition to the brick, which was wedged so violently into the mouth to knock out the upper teeth, the skeleton featured a leg with a hole likely made from a puncture. This would suggest the leg had been staked to the ground to prevent the individual from rising from its grave.
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“A piece of debris brick in the mouth and a pierced thigh indicate this is a vampiric burial,” Slawomir Gorka, the archaeologist who led the dig, said.
People feared that those accused to be vampires would rise from their graves like zombies. In some cases, to kill the undead creatures, they placed a stone or brick into the mouth so that the vampire would starve to death.
According to Gorka, such vampire-slaying rituals were common in local graves between the 13th and 17th centuries.
Indeed, it’s not the first time that “deviant burials” have been unearthed in Poland and across eastern Europe.
Last year, Polish archaeologists found a grave near the town of Gliwice filled with skeletons whose severed heads were placed atop their legs.
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Such burials appear to be common in Slavic regions for people accused of vampirism, although alternative hypothesis suggested the skeletons were simply victims of an execution.
Deviant burials are often linked to Black Death-related cemeteries and to medieval ignorance of how diseases spread.
Mass graves were often reopened to bury corpses during epidemics, exposing bloated bodies with blood seeping out of the mouth and with a hole in the shroud used to cover their face.
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Medieval people, not knowing what happens to bodies after death, believed that “vampire” individuals spread the plague by chewing on their shrouds after dying.
In a time before germ theory, the stone in the mouth was then used as a disease-blocking trick.
Image: The “vampire” skeleton unearthed in Poland. Credit: Kamienskie.info
http://news.discovery.com/history/archaeology/vampire-skeleton-unearthed-in-poland-14050.htm