In the Czech Republic, archaeologists have unearthed unusual burials found in a flint mine. Bone examination and DNA analysis have shown that the remains belonged to two adult women who were apparently sisters. However, the newborn child buried next to them was not their close relative, and the women themselves were engaged in heavy physical labor during their lives. The results of the study are published in the journal Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences.
Flint is an important resource for people of the past, as it was used to make a significant portion of stone tools when possible. Some of the largest deposits of this rock in Europe are located in what is now the Czech Republic, in the Krumlov Forest in southern Moravia. Since the end of the last century, archaeologists have explored this area and found evidence of mining that began at least as early as the Mesolithic era and continued until the Iron Age, when the region was inhabited by the Hallstatt culture. Moreover, local people not only collected the raw material on the surface, but also developed full-fledged mines.
Eva Vaníčková from the Moravian Museum together with her Czech colleagues presented the results of a study of finds from one shaft of this archaeological complex. During the excavations of the shaft, the scientists discovered human burials. Thus, at a depth of six meters, the archaeologists came across the skeleton of an adult, not far from which lay the skull of a small dog. A meter deeper was the skeleton of another adult, next to which were the remains of a newborn child and dog bones.
The Czech scientists devoted their article to human remains. In order to determine the age of the burials, they sent the bones of one individual for radiocarbon analysis. It showed that the remains date back to the period from 4340 to 4050 BC and are apparently associated with the Lengyel archaeological culture, which existed in the late Neolithic - Eneolithic.
These were adult women who lived from 30 to 40 years. They were short (about 146-148 centimeters), suffered from a number of pathologies, but during their life they did a lot of physical labor. For example, they could well have done hard work at this flint deposit, and then were buried there or sacrificed (the exact cause of death could not be determined). The third individual was a tiny newborn who was 38 to 40 weeks from the moment of conception.
Genetic analysis showed that it was quite likely that both women were related, possibly sisters. However, the child found nearby was not related to either of them. In addition, the study of ancient DNA allowed the appearance of both women to be determined with a certain degree of certainty, which anthropologists later used to reconstruct their appearance. In one case, the woman probably had brown or green eyes and perhaps dark hair. In the other case, the woman was highly likely to have blue eyes and fair hair.
Among other things, the scientists examined the dental calculus of these people, and also analyzed the isotopic composition of nitrogen, carbon and strontium in their remains. These analyses showed that they could well have been of local origin, and that their diet included a significant amount of meat or dairy products. The latter indicates that either people engaged in heavy physical labor were additionally fed meat from farm animals, or they ate hunted game.
No less unusual burials of human remains were discovered by archaeologists in England, where they excavated a ritual shaft with the bones of at least 21 individuals. But this unusual object dates back to a later era - to the first centuries of our era.