A young woman buried in 17th-century Poland with a sickle across her neck and a padlock attached to her toe may have been regarded as an outsider by the community that apparently feared she could return from the dead, according to new archaeological research.
The woman, known to researchers as “Zosia”, was discovered in 2022 at a cemetery in Pień, in Poland’s Kuyavian-Pomeranian region. Her unusual grave attracted international attention because of the extraordinary measures apparently taken to prevent her from leaving it.
Archaeologists found a triangular padlock attached to the big toe of her left foot, while an iron sickle had been positioned across her neck with its blade facing her throat. Researchers have now identified evidence of what may have been a third protective measure: a copper-rich object apparently placed in her mouth.
The findings, published in the Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, offer new insights into the life, origins and treatment of the young woman, as well as the fears and supernatural beliefs of the community that buried her.
An interdisciplinary team has subjected the remains to radiocarbon dating, DNA testing, elemental analysis and stable isotope studies. The results suggest Zosia died around the middle of the 17th century, when she was approximately 17 to 19 years old.
Researchers believe the unusual treatment of her remains indicates that members of the local population considered her dangerous, potentially associating her with disease, famine or other misfortunes that afflicted communities in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth at the time.
Professor Dariusz Poliński of Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń, who led the archaeological team, said the padlock could have carried several meanings in contemporary funerary symbolism.
It may have represented the closing of earthly life and passage into the world of the dead, while also symbolically severing contact between the deceased and the living. In some traditions, such measures were intended to prevent a dead person from returning or even to halt the spread of epidemics.
Grave appears to have been reopened
Researchers now believe the sickle was probably not placed in the grave during Zosia’s original burial.
Instead, the grave appears to have been reopened shortly afterwards so the implement could be positioned across her neck. The arrangement of the bones remained anatomically intact, suggesting the body had not yet fully decomposed and that soft tissue was still holding the skeleton together when the grave was disturbed.
The sickle’s position was particularly significant. If the deceased attempted to rise, contemporary beliefs held that the blade could cut her throat or decapitate her.
Iron objects and sharp implements were widely regarded in folk traditions as having protective powers against witchcraft, demons and malevolent supernatural forces.
Analysis of surviving material from the sickle’s wooden handle suggests it was probably made from birch, alder or maple. Birch had its own associations with protection from demons and witchcraft, potentially adding another symbolic dimension to the burial.
Mysterious object may have been placed in her mouth
Scientists also discovered extensive greenish staining on Zosia’s palate, as well as discolouration on the base of her skull, inside the nasal cavity and on her first two cervical vertebrae.
The staining indicates that an object containing a substantial amount of copper may have been placed in her mouth at the time of burial.
Researchers have ruled out a coin as the likely source because they believe a coin would have produced a much smaller area of discolouration. They have not yet established exactly what the object was.
Professor Poliński said the combination of precautions taken during the original burial and the apparent reopening of the grave demonstrated the extraordinary degree of fear surrounding the young woman.
Was Zosia an outsider?
Scientific analysis has also provided clues about where Zosia came from.
Genetic evidence suggests she may have had Scandinavian origins. However, strontium isotope analysis does not support the conclusion that she had personally migrated from Scandinavia.
Instead, researchers believe she may have been a second-generation migrant or had family origins outside the immediate community, while having grown up in the area around present-day Pień.
At between 162 and 168 centimetres tall, Zosia was of average height for a young woman of the period.
There are also indications that she may have occupied a relatively privileged social position.
Fragments of an elaborate woven ribbon were discovered around her jaw. Analysis found that its main warp was silk, while four threads along its edges were made from pure silver and gold.
Researchers found no significant copper in the decorative threads, ruling them out as the source of the green staining inside her mouth.
The expensive materials suggest Zosia may have belonged to the upper social classes, making the extreme treatment of her remains particularly intriguing.
Cause of death remains uncertain
Earlier examinations established that Zosia suffered from a haemangioma — a vascular tumour — in her sternum. The condition could have caused pain and produced a visible deformation or swelling on her chest.
Researchers do not, however, believe it was necessarily responsible for her death.
Further investigations are under way, and scientists say they are getting closer to establishing what killed the young woman, although additional testing will be required before a definitive conclusion can be reached.
The reconstruction of Zosia’s face by an interdisciplinary team of anthropologists and medical specialists in 2024 brought renewed attention to the case, transforming an unusual archaeological burial into the story of an individual who lived more than three centuries ago.
Poland’s largest known cemetery of unusual burials
Zosia’s grave is part of a much broader archaeological phenomenon.
Several hundred so-called “anti-vampire” burials dating from the late Middle Ages through the early modern period have been identified across Central and south-eastern Europe.
Such graves are characterised by measures apparently intended to prevent the deceased from returning to harm the living. Archaeologists generally interpret them within the context of historical beliefs surrounding revenants, disease, unexplained deaths and supernatural threats rather than the modern popular image of vampires.
Pień contains Poland’s largest known necropolis featuring burials of this type.
Professor Poliński’s team has uncovered 101 graves at the site, including at least a dozen described as atypical.
Researchers from Nicolaus Copernicus University were joined in the investigation by specialists from Łódź University of Technology, Gdańsk University of Technology, the University of Warmia and Mazury, Liverpool John Moores University and the University of North Texas Health Science Center.
The latest findings suggest that Zosia’s unusual burial was not the result of a single ritual. Instead, the precautions taken when she was first buried — followed by the reopening of her grave and addition of the sickle — point to fears that may have persisted or intensified after her death.
More than 350 years later, scientists are beginning to reconstruct not only who the young woman was, but also why the people who buried her apparently went to extraordinary lengths to ensure she remained in her grave.
Sources : PAP
