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In the Drawsko cemetery in Poland , archaeologist have discover five skeletal system with reap hook placed at the throat or pelvic arch . This inhumation practice may have been meant to protect the dead from demons , or to keep the dead from animate and tormenting the living . [ study the full tale on the reap hook burials ]
An prolonged shaft
Excavations have been ongoing at the Drawsko cemetery since 2008 . Some grave date back to the Bronze Age , but the reap hook burials date back to the 16th and 17th hundred . This particular skeleton belonged to a man who was 35 to 44 when he die . ( Photo Credit : Polcyn et al . Antiquity 2015 , DOI : 10.15184 / aqy.2015.129 )
A bemused mortal
This woman , also buried with a reaping hook , break at about 35 to 39 twelvemonth old . Her skull has been crushed in all probability due to husbandry activities that later deal place on the web site . ( Photo Credit : Polcyn et al . Antiquity 2015 , DOI : 10.15184 / aqy.2015.129 )
Notable difference
An older woman with no teeth left was buried with a sickle not at her pharynx but at her hips . ( Photo Credit : Polcyn et al . Antiquity 2015 , DOI : 10.15184 / aqy.2015.129 )
An crucial figure
A coin was also placed in her sassing a gem was locate on her cervix . Because of these foreign grave good , the archaeologists cerebrate this adult female was see especial in the local community of interests — perhaps she was even a witch . ( Photo Credit : PLOS ONE , Gregoricka et al . doi:10.1371 / journal.pone.0113564.g002 )
Lost young
The outline of a wooden casket can be seen in the grave accent of this teenage lady friend , who cash in one’s chips between historic period 14 and 19 . ( Photo Credit : Polcyn et al . Antiquity 2015 , DOI : 10.15184 / aqy.2015.129 )
Burial gifts
In accession to the reap hook placed at her neck , the teenage girl seems to have been buried with a fuzz headband and a bull coin . ( Photo Credit : Polcyn et al . Antiquity 2015 , DOI : 10.15184 / aqy.2015.129 )
protect the bushed
The archeologist think the sickles may have served an " anti - satanic " role , perhaps intended to prevent the dead from leaving their graves or to protect the dead from evil military unit . ( Photo Credit : Polcyn et al . Antiquity 2015 , DOI : 10.15184 / aqy.2015.129 )
unnerve death
It is not clear why these peculiar citizenry were perceived as fiendish , though the excavators speculate that some may have died in a violent way , or may have been thought to have supernatural force while they were live . ( Photo Credit : Polcyn et al . Antiquity 2015 , DOI : 10.15184 / aqy.2015.129 )
