A team of researchers from the Institute of Archaeology at Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń has come across another interesting find during excavations in Pień near Dąbrowa Chełmińska. Researchers there continue to search for graves in an early medieval necropolis and a modern, probably Protestant cemetery.

The latest discovery is the grave of a child aged about 5-7 years, who was placed face down in the grave cavity. This arrangement of the corpse may suggest that there was a fear of the deceased and its ‘activity’ after death, for example that it would bite the living. Turning the face downwards was perhaps intended to make the deceased bite into the ground, so it no longer posed a threat to people.

A year ago, Toruń scientists located the burial of a young woman whose body had been doubly protected from rising from the grave: a triangular padlock was placed on the big toe of her left foot, and a sickle was placed on her neck with the blade pointing downwards.  

Read more: https://portal.umk.pl/pl/article/sezon-na-odkrycia