Deviant burials in Poland

The woman in the photo above was buried with a sickle placed across her neck.

Apotropaic observances-traditional practices intended to prevent evil-were not uncommon in post-medieval Poland, and included specific treatment of the dead for those considered at risk for becoming vampires. Excavations at the Drawsko 1 cemetery (17^th–18^th c. AD) have revealed multiple examples (n=6) of such deviant burials amidst hundreds of normative interments... These data indicate that those targeted for apotropaic practices were not migrants to the region, but instead, represented local individuals whose social identity or manner of death marked them with suspicion in some other way.

The above from the abstract.  The rest of the report at the link includes an extended discussion of beliefs about vampires and the use of strontium isotopes in forensic archaeology.

This is the first time I've seen a sickle employed on a deviant burial.  Weights like stones and bricks are more common.  Very cool.

Related...

Teeth of a "vampire syndrome"

From Wikipedia:

Hypohidrotic ectodermal dysplasia is one of about 150 types of ectodermal dysplasia in humans. Before birth, these disorders result in the abnormal development of structures including the skin, hair, nails, teeth, and sweat glands... Hypohidrotic ectodermal dysplasia is the most common form of ectodermal dysplasia in humans. It is estimated to affect at least 1 in 17,000 people worldwide.

Because some readers of this blog are reluctant to view variants of human development, I'll put the image below the fold..

"On second thought, I WILL have the garlic bread."

HA! (One of this week's 'toons at The New Yorker)

"No exit from burial site"

Found in the Telegraph's weekly feature of curious signage. This one from Sutton Hoo, which does have some famous burial sites.

Suspected vampire burial discovered

Matteo Borrini of the University of Florence in Italy found the skeleton of a woman with a small brick in her mouth while excavating mass graves of plague victims from the Middle Ages on Lazzaretto Nuovo Island in Venice. The skeleton was removed from a mass grave of victims of the Venetian plague of 1576.

At the time the woman died, many people believed that the plague was spread by "vampires" which, rather than drinking people's blood, spread disease by chewing on their shrouds after dying. Grave-diggers put bricks in the mouths of suspected vampires to stop them doing this.

Found at Neatorama.