Solved! Mystery of Skeleton with Bones from Two Distinct Eras, 2,500 Years Apart

A skeleton was uncovered at a Roman cemetary in Belgium in the 1970s. It seemed strange to researchers because it was laid to rest in a fetal position, somethings not done by the Romans, and more shockingly consisted of bones from five different people, who lived 2,500 years apart.

Initially, scientists thought that the remains were from the second or third century AD Roman era because of a Roman pin found near the skull. This led them to infer that the remains belonged to a woman who lived between 69 AD – 210 AD during the Gallo-Roman era. However, in 2019, radiocarbon dating was conducted, revealing that parts of the bones were of Roman origin but there were also bones that belonged to the Stone Age. Finding manipulated human bodies is not strange. What was strange in this case was that the assembled bones were from different people.

“Rarer still are composite individuals with skeletal elements separated by hundreds or even thousands of years,” the scientists said.

They now think that the Stone Age burial was accidentally disturbed by Romans 2500 years later. So they reworked it and added a new skull and grave goods (the bone pin) to cover up the disturbance.

Skull unearthed from the grave. Barbara Veselka et al., Antiquity (2024)

“Disturbance of the burial may have necessitated reparations through the completion or construction of an individual with agency in the afterlife,” they note in the study.

“A second possibility is that the entire ‘individual’ was assembled during the Gallo-Roman period, combining locally sourced Neolithic bones with a Roman-period cranium.”

According to the scientists, “the Romans probably “inspired by superstition”, may have intentionally assembled the composite skeleton “to connect with an individual who had occupied the area before themselves.”

“Either there was originally no cranium and the Roman community that discovered the burial added one to complete the ‘individual’, or they replaced the existing Neolithic-date cranium with a Roman-period one.”

It is still not clear what motivated them to do something like this but the researchers conclude “the presence of the ‘individual’ was clearly intentional”.

“The bones were selected, a fitting location chosen and the elements arranged carefully to mimic the correct anatomical order,” they say in the study.

“The resulting burial implies great care and planning, as well as a good knowledge of human anatomy.”

Our paper is out! Want to know more about unusual burial practices in the Late Neolithic AND Gallo-Roman time? You can read all about it in our open access publication! https://t.co/vPnQJVAL9F

— Dr Barbara Veselka (@VeselkaBarbara) October 23, 2024

The study was published in Antiquity

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Saima Baig

I am a Chartered Environmentalist from the Royal Society for the Environment, UK and co-owner of DoLocal Digital Marketing Agency Ltd, with a Master of Environmental Management from Yale University, an MBA in Finance, and a Bachelor of Science in Physics and Mathematics. I am passionate about science, history and environment and love to create content on these topics.