A young woman buried in 17th-century Poland was found with a sickle laid across her neck and a padlock attached to her toe, an arrangement that archaeological and chemical evidence suggests was intended to prevent her from returning from the grave.
The remains were uncovered in 2022 at a cemetery in Pień, Poland, during excavations led by researchers from the Institute of Archaeology at Nicolaus Copernicus University. In Grave 75, they found the skeleton of a woman who had been about 17 to 19 years old when she died.
The most striking feature was the iron sickle. It had been placed directly over her neck, with the blade facing her throat. A triangular iron padlock was attached to the big toe of her left foot.
The arrangement fits a group of unusual burials often described by archaeologists as “vampiric” or “anti-vampiric.” Such graves contain measures intended to stop the dead from rising again, including decapitation, heavy stones or iron restraints.
Hundreds of these burials have been found across Central and Southeastern Europe, dating from the post-medieval period into modern times. Burials from the 16th through 18th centuries, however, have received relatively little attention in archaeological writing.
The researchers approached Grave 75 by examining the physical evidence rather than relying on folklore alone.
Evidence of a wealthy young woman
Tiny metallic threads found near the woman’s skull added an unexpected detail. They were made from pure silver and gold-gilded wire and came from a luxurious silk headwear cap.
Such materials were extremely expensive in the 17th century, pointing to a woman from a wealthy family.
But other evidence suggests that wealth did not protect her from hardship. Analysis of carbon and nitrogen levels placed her among adults in the cemetery who had very low consumption of animal protein. The researchers interpreted this as evidence that she had experienced periods of malnutrition.
Radiocarbon dating placed her burial most likely between 1620 and 1674, with a 52.6% probability.
DNA analysis also produced an unusual result. Her maternal lineage belonged to haplogroup J1c2c1, a rare genetic lineage with origins in Scandinavia that is virtually absent among modern Slavic populations.
Her childhood teeth told a different part of the story. Isotope analysis indicated that she had grown up locally in Pień.
The grave had been reopened
The disturbed soil inside the grave provided another important clue. It was mixed and disordered, suggesting that someone had reopened the burial while the woman’s body was still partly intact.
Her joints were still connected by soft tissue at the time of the disturbance. Bone positions indicated that her left arm had been pulled toward the northeast.
The researchers connect this disturbance with the placement of the sickle. Its wooden handle had decayed, but analysis showed that it was made from birch. Birch had historically been regarded as having magical properties that could protect the living from evil spirits.
The combination of the sickle, padlock and disturbed grave is consistent with anti-demonic practices intended to protect the living from the dead.
A mysterious mark near her mouth
The skeleton contained another unexplained feature. A distinct green stain was visible on the woman’s palate and neck bones.
Researchers initially considered whether the stain might have come from a coin. But the metal’s composition did not match historical coins, and scans did not show a coin in the area.
The researchers therefore proposed that a copper-containing object or medicinal substance may have been deliberately placed deep inside her mouth or nasal passage around the time of her death.
That interpretation remains a theory rather than a confirmed identification of what caused the staining.
Why was she treated this way?
The burial took place in the 17th-century Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, a period when disease, famine and other misfortunes could severely affect communities. The researchers note that the dead could become convenient targets for blame when communities tried to explain such events.
The sickle and padlock fit practices intended to stop a feared dead person from returning. The unusual treatment therefore provides archaeological evidence of fears surrounding the woman after her death.
The cemetery itself adds another piece to that context. It does not appear on historical maps and contained no Catholic crosses or devotional objects. The researchers interpret these features as signs of Protestant connections.
Its location also appears significant. The cemetery stood away from the village near a crossroads and may have functioned as a false cemetery, where people who were feared or rejected by society could be buried.
Together, the grave’s physical evidence, chemical traces, genetic results and isotope measurements provide a picture of a young woman who grew up locally, came from a wealthy family and was buried under unusual precautions intended to keep her from returning to the living.
The study was published in Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports.
