10 June 2021
This girl was found buried in a cave with at least one finch in her mouth. The discovery was made in the 1960s, but was not analyzed in detail until now.
(Image credit: Archives of Faculty of Archaeology, Warsaw University)
Archaeologists are trying to solve the mystery of a girl who was buried with the head of at least one finch in her mouth hundreds of years ago.
Although the skeleton was discovered by archaeologist Waldemar Chmielewski in southern Poland in Tunel Wielki Cave during excavations in 1967 and 1968, the burial had not been analyzed in detail until now. New
New Research on the Girl with the Bird Skull in Her Mouth
The child’s skeleton was found over fifty years ago with a chaffinch skull inside its mouth, and another next to its cheek. The use of shallow graves within caves was a burial practice that dates back at least 4000 years. However, the radiocarbon dating of the bones reveals a hard life riddled in malnourishment and places the child’s death sometime between 1750 and 1850 AD.
Why was the burial hidden for so long? Who was this child and who buried them? Could these be the remains of a family ritual or something much more sinister? Currently researchers are attempting to answer these questions and more.