Archaeologists discovered a skeleton buried in an unusual way in Poland. It is said to be the grave of a “vampire”.
Toruń – During excavations in Romania, archaeologists recently made a “phenomenal discovery” in a 6,500-year-old tomb. According to the researchers, the woman who was buried in it thousands of years ago must have been “extremely rich”. At least that is what the high-quality finds that were discovered in the tomb indicate.
Such finds often provide information about our ancestors and their rituals or ways of life. An excavation that was recently carried out in Toruń, Poland, is therefore particularly exciting: archaeologists found the resting place of a “vampire” from the 17th century there.
Skeleton of Woman Carried Sickle To Prevent Her “Rising From The Dead”
In the 17th-century Polish cemetery, researchers discovered the grave of a woman who was buried in an unusual way. Her skeleton wore a sickle around her neck and a silk headscarf. According to the researchers, a protruding front tooth was particularly striking. The archaeologists concluded that it must have been a female “vampire”. The sickle was intended to prevent her from “rising from the dead,” it goes on to say.
“The sickle was not placed flat but placed over the neck in such a way that the head would most likely have been cut off or injured if the deceased tried to stand up,” Dariusz Poliński, a professor at Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń, told the Daily Mail . In addition, the skeleton was found with a padlock on the big toe – this symbolizes “the closing of a stage and the impossibility of returning,” explains Poliński.
Fear of vampires was high in Eastern Europe at the time
At first glance, one might think that this is exaggerated hocus-pocus. However, a look at the country’s history provides an explanation as to why such a burial was not all that unusual. In Eastern Europe, the fear of vampires was great at that time. Therefore, in the 11th century, the dead began to be treated there with anti-vampire rituals. People believed that the deceased would rise from their graves as blood-sucking monsters to terrorize the living.
In the 17th century, such burial practices became common again “in response to a reported outbreak of vampires across Poland”. The woman was even buried relatively harmlessly. Other burial precautions included cutting off the head or legs, placing the deceased face down to bite the ground, or burning and smashing the dead. It was also customary to pierce the dead with a metal rod.
