1,500-Year-Old Grave Unearthed in Slovakia

GBELY, SLOVAKIA—The Slovak Spectator reports that a man digging a foundation for a new garage in western Slovakia alerted the authorities when he discovered human remains. Further investigation revealed a grave containing the bones of two women. Radiocarbon analysis indicates the burial dates to between A.D. 421 and 541, a time known as the Migration Period, when Quadi, Hunds, Heruli, Lombards, and perhaps Goths and Rugians lived in the area. Archaeologist Matúš Sládok of the Regional Monuments Board Trnava said the women’s bodies had been placed on their backs with their heads facing west and their feet pointed to the east. “An interesting pathological change was found on one skeleton,” he added. “The coccyx stood significantly asymmetrically.” The tailbone may have been damaged by a fall or a blow, he explained. The grave may have been robbed in antiquity, which would account for the lack of grave goods and damage to the upper part of one of the skeletons, Sládok concluded. To read about the monumental 4,000-year-old burials of two women in ancient Arabia, go to "A Place of Their Own."