Three decades ago, in the spring of 1986, archaeologists discovered the extraordinary graves of three young people in a common grave. What they found revealed an archaeological mystery – the first skeleton, a man, was buried with a hand on the ocher-stained pelvis of a second skeleton whose gender was more ambiguous. The third male skeleton was thrown into the grave and lay face down next to the other skeletons. Archaeologists and anthropologists have theorized about the cause of the unusual burial since its discovery. Because the midsection skeleton has long been attributed to a woman, debates surrounding love triangles or fertility rituals have become misguided. Research carried out by Mittnik and colleagues in 2016 has now deepened the mystery as it turned out that all three skeletons were male – and they were brothers.
Sitemap of Dolni Vestonice 1 and 2. (Sarahfennel / CC BY-SA 3.0 )
What is the meaning of the website?
The Paleolithic site of Dolni Vestonice in the modern Czech Republic has proven to be a goldmine for archaeologists since its discovery in the 1920s, with countless works of art, weapons, statues Venus, personal artefacts, inscriptions and several perfectly preserved tombs. . It sheds light on the lives of our ancestors and how they lived during the Gravettian period in Europe nearly 30,000 years ago. Many of the unusual finds from the site have several plausible explanations – the appearance of a deformed woman appears to be related to the burial of a similarly deformed woman. , and Mediterranean shells provide evidence of travel or trade – but the triple burial has long eluded those searching for its meaning.
Carved female head from Dolni Vestonice, Krahuletz Museum. (Wolfgang Sauber / CC BY-SA 4.0 )
What facts do we know about the burial of the three people?
Dating back to about 28,000 years ago, the tomb is very well preserved. Archaeologists were able to determine that the bodies were covered with burned spruce, possibly part of a funerary structure, and that all three bodies had ocher on their heads. From osteological analysis, it was clear that the skeletons were between 16 and 21 years old, which raised speculation that the burial was the result of a relationship or love triangle that ended in disaster.
Two male skeletons were apparently buried with pierced carnivore teeth and ivory decorations around their skulls, and the man whose hand rests on the groin of the middle skeleton is wearing a some kind of mask that some consider proof that he is a magician.
There are a number of theories that have been formed based on the skeleton in the middle being female. Some believe that she died during a fertility ritual or in childbirth, and that her partner and those responsible for the shamanism were killed. Others suggest that the person dumped in the grave may have seriously wronged the midsection skeleton in some way or violated a major taboo such as sexual abuse.
View of three young men buried together at the Prehistoric Triple Burial at Dolni Vestonice. ( connellodonovan )
What recent developments have there been for Discovery?
In 2016, Mittnik and his colleagues analyzed the DNA of all three skeletons and discovered that through DNA sequencing, the middle skeleton was actually male. They were also able to determine that the individuals were brothers. This rules out a lot of the theories people have about the burial, as it eliminates the possibility of the skeleton in the middle dying during childbirth and makes a fertility ritual highly unlikely.
While this discovery may knock some theories off the list, in many ways it deepens the mystery because the theories it eliminates seem most plausible when looking at burials under modern eyes. The three brothers were buried in this way possibly for very different reasons – some have suggested that the bodies were all carelessly dumped in the pit, not just the third skeleton, although this seems unlikely occurs due to ocher and evidence of a potential funerary structure. . Perhaps they shared a residence with a family and were responsible when an illness struck the group that appears to have originated among the brothers, but this does not fully explain the location of the bodies. It’s possible that the brother thrown into the grave killed the others – but this still doesn’t explain the location of the other two.
It seems that knowing more about burials raises even more questions than we had before, and no matter what we may learn from skeletons in the future, we won’t. can ever answer some questions. Finally, we know that nearly 30,000 years ago three brothers were buried in a common grave – we will never know who they were while they were alive, or what their passions were. We don’t know what led to their untimely deaths, but even if we could find out in the future, we would never be able to fully understand the strange burials. theirs or know what rituals may take place around it.
