Archaeologists working at a Roman-era cemetery near Żórawina in southern Poland uncovered a 5,000-year-old necklace made from 42 teeth, a rare prehistoric ornament discovered within a much older barrow beneath later graves.
The team, led by archaeologist Tomasz Gralak of the University of Wrocław and anthropologist-anatomist Paweł Dąbrowski of Wrocław Medical University, had been excavating fourth or fifth century C.E. burials when they noticed the circular outline of an ancient burial mound.
According to the researchers, they then exposed a tightly set row of single-peaked teeth, each pierced at the root and likely once strung on a cord that has decayed.
5,000-year-old necklace linked to Corded Ware culture
Dąbrowski said the arrangement left little doubt the objects formed a deliberate ornament.
The teeth are from large mammals, including wolves, deer, and young bears, and possibly even humans, he told the Polish Press Agency.
Gralak noted the piece is unique in Poland, with the closest parallel being a Bronze Age necklace of four teeth from Wojkowice, while this find dates to the Middle Neolithic, several millennia earlier.
In deeper layers of the mound, the team found a nearly complete adult male skeleton, fragments of two additional adult skulls, amber beads that may have been jewelry, a flint cutting tool, and a greenish serpentinite ax bearing use wear.
Based on the ax’s style, the grave is dated to around 2900 B.C.E.
Researchers said such Stone Age mounds typically belonged to important patriarchs.
The necklace could represent hunting trophies or a prestigious gift, indicating the deceased held high status, possibly as a family or clan leader.
Further analyses are planned.
The team intends to conduct radiocarbon dating to refine the burial’s chronology, examine genetic material from the skulls and teeth to determine sex and species, and study wear patterns along with strontium, carbon, and nitrogen isotopes to reconstruct diet and mobility.
They will also investigate whether the two additional skulls came from individuals who were intentionally decapitated.
Separately, archaeologists working in the nearby village of Iwiny uncovered another high-status funerary mound containing beads, axes, flint tools, and the bones of a calf that may represent a graveside sacrifice.
According to the Polish Press Agency, both sites may reflect the distinctive funerary practices of the Corded Ware culture, which spread across much of Europe in the third millennium B.C.E.
For readers interested in how material culture and memory intersect in more recent history, see our coverage of George Washington Carver pigments and a lost dye legacy.