5,000-Year-Old Stone Age Burial in Poland Reveals Tooth Necklace and Two Human Skulls
Archaeologists excavating near Żórawina, south of Wrocław in southwestern Poland, have uncovered an unusual Stone Age burial containing the nearly complete skeleton of an adult man, a necklace made from 42 animal teeth, a stone battle axe, amber and bone beads, and the remains of two human skulls. The discovery was made during excavations of a much later Roman-period cemetery dating to around AD 350–430.
The burial is provisionally dated to around 2900 BC, making it roughly 5,000 years old and about three millennia older than the Roman-era graves at the site. Researchers reached the preliminary date partly from the style of a serpentinite battle axe found with the man. Radiocarbon dating is now underway.
One of the most striking discoveries was a carefully arranged collection of 42 mammal teeth. Each tooth had been drilled through its root, indicating that the teeth had been threaded onto a cord to create a necklace. The teeth include incisors and canines from large mammals, potentially including wolves, deer and bears. Researchers have not yet ruled out the possibility that some may be human.
The grave also contained fragments from two human skulls. Archaeologists believe they may represent decapitated individuals whose heads were deliberately placed in the man’s burial, possibly as ritual offerings. However, researchers stress that further examination is required to establish whether the individuals were actually decapitated.
The man’s own grave goods suggest that he may have held an important position within his community. Archaeologists have proposed that he could have been a hunter, warrior or possibly a leader or patriarch of a family group. These interpretations remain tentative until the anthropological and archaeological analyses are completed.
The discovery may also provide new evidence about communities associated with the Corded Ware cultural sphere, which was spreading across parts of Europe during the third millennium BC. Researchers hope that analysis of the skeletons will shed light on ancestry, relationships, migration and social organisation in the region.
Scientists are now examining the human remains and grave goods in greater detail. They also plan to compare this burial with another unusual Stone Age grave discovered nearby, potentially revealing whether the individuals belonged to the same community or were related. Initial analytical results are expected later in 2026.
