Bad Dürrenberg burial

The Bad Dürrenberg burial is a Mesolithic double burial of a woman and baby in the modern town of Bad Dürrenberg, in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. The grave was discovered on 4 May 1934 by workmen laying a water pipe in a spa garden beside the Saale river. It was excavated in one day directed by Wilhelm Henning, a conservator at the Halle State Museum of Prehistory. No photographs were taken of the burial due to time pressure; the only records are written descriptions and sketches which do not record the exact positions of the bodies and objects.

The rectangular grave contained the skeletal remains of an adult woman aged 30–40 years and a 6–8–month–old infant. The woman was buried in a sitting position with flexed arms and legs; the baby was positioned across her lap or between her legs. The grave was filled with powdered red ochre and contained many grave goods, including a roe deer antler headdress, 50 pierced teeth from aurochs, deer and boar, and stone and bone tools. Radiocarbon dating of human and animal bone yielded a date of 7000–6800 BC, placing the interment in the Mesolithic period. It is on display in the Halle State Museum of Prehistory in Halle, Germany.

The woman had an incompletely formed atlas vertebra and associated malformations of the foramen magnum and vertebral arteries. This may have caused neuropathological conditions, such as abnormal sensations, ataxia, or induced rapid eye movement (nystagmus) or double vision. The woman is thought to have been a shaman; she is often referred to as the Bad Dürrenberg shaman. Genetic analysis revealed she likely had a relatively dark complexion with straight, dark hair and blue eyes. The baby boy she was buried with was found to be a fourth or fifth degree genetic relative with a shared mitochondrial haplogroup; she may have been a direct relative, such as his great-great-grandmother, or she may have been an aunt or cousin several generations removed.

Discovery

1933 photograph of a fountain in the spa garden at Bad Dürrenberg

The grave is situated on a terrace above the east bank of the River Salle in what is now the garden of a salt water spa, near the modern town of Bad Dürrenberg, 20 kilometres (12 mi) south of Halle in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. The burial does not appear to be associated with a prehistoric camp; it is possible there was one closer to the river which has since eroded away.

On 4 May 1934, workmen discovered the burial while digging a trench for a fountain water pipe. A local teacher was alerted to the find, who in turn contacted Wilhelm Henning, a conservator at the Halle State Museum of Prehistory. Artefacts were removed from the grave before Henning's arrival so it is generally unclear exactly how the bodies and grave goods were arranged. The grave was excavated in a single day as the gardens were scheduled to reopen the following day; no photographs were taken due to time pressure. The only records of the excavation are a two page report and a sketch of the plan and profile elevations. The burial is displayed in the Halle State Museum of Prehistory.

Description

A near-contemporary antler headdress from Eilsleben in the Halle State Museum of Prehistory

From the original excavation, it was known the grave was oriented east-northeast west-southwest and was roughly rectangular, measuring 90 by 55 centimetres (2.95 ft × 1.80 ft) with a maximum depth of 1.46 m (4.8 ft). In the 2010s, the area where the burial was found was scheduled for redevelopment for the State Garden Show so the grave was located and entirely removed in two blocks for controlled excavation in a laboratory.

The upper part of the grave was trough-shaped. The lower part was a rectangular shaft measuring 90 by 55 centimetres (2.95 ft × 1.80 ft), whose vertical walls were lined with lattice or wattle. The grave contained the seated body of an adult woman, positioned with her legs drawn up and her arms resting on her thighs; an infant was placed in her lap, across her arms. The soil around the bodies was filled with red ochre. After the burial, the shaft was closed with wood and sealed with loam before the upper part was filled.

The burial is exceptional among contemporary burials from Germany for its many grave goods. The pair were interred with stone tools, including a polished axe blade made of amphibolite placed by the woman's right arm, and 31 microlith blades stored in a container made from a crane humerus. Two shaped pebbles and a hammerstone with signs of use and red ochre were also placed in the grave. Over 140 animal teeth and bones were recovered, some of which were likely ornaments. The antlers of a two year old roe deer buck show signs of skinning and manipulation, indicating they may have been part of a headdress. There were 50 incisor teeth from aurochs, steppe bison, wild boar, red and roe deer, many of which were pierced for wear; a further six were split boar tusks, two of which were pierced. Others may have been tools, such as a spatula with traces of red ochre, and awls made from deer leg bones. Other items are thought to be purely grave goods, consisting of jaws and scapulae of roe deer, three cleaned turtle carapaces, 120 fragments of freshwater mussel shells and isolated elements of a beaver and hedgehog.

Occupants

Initially, it was thought the grave belonged to a Neolithic man, based on the presence of a polished stone axe and blades; this was later worked into Nazi propaganda, with the burial cast as an Aryan. Reexamination of the skeleton in the 1950s and 1990s determined the individual was female. Radiocarbon dating, first conducted in the 1970s, confirmed the woman lived around 9000 years ago, 7000–6800 BC, during the Mesolithic.

The woman died between the ages of 30 and 40 years. Her height in life is estimated to be 155 cm (5.09 ft). Her face has broad cheekbones and "masculine" features, with a slender build. Genetic analysis revealed she likely had a dark complexion with straight dark hair and blue eyes, a common combination among the European population at the time and shared by other Mesolithic individuals such as the Loschbour man and the Cheddar Man. Her bones lack strong muscle attachments, indicating she was less active than expected for the time period. Signs of wear to the vertebrae in her lower back and torso combined with facets on her leg bones indicate she spent a lot of time kneeling. Her health seems to have been good, with no signs of arrested growth (Harris lines). Her upper incisors were worn, exposing the pulp cavity. This may be caused by holding objects such as hides between the teeth but this wear lacks the curve associated with the processing of leather. The lack of secondary dentin formation is also unusual which indicates the wear happened quickly. Harald Meller, director of the Halle State Museum of Prehistory, suggests her teeth were deliberately filed as part of a ritual. The open pulp cavities led to infection in one of the teeth and the formation of an abscess that spread to the maxillary sinus. This is her suggested cause of death.

The woman had an incompletely formed atlas vertebra, which is missing a large portion of the posterior arch, and had associated malformations of the foramen magnum. The atypical appearance of the foramen magnum was previously suggested to be caused by decapitation but there is no evidence of cut marks. She may have been able to block blood vessels to the brain by holding her head in certain positions, causing neuropathological conditions such as abnormal sensations or ataxia, or induced rapid eye movement (nystagmus) or double vision. It is possible that, if she did exhibit these conditions, she may have been seen as having the ability to access the spirit world. Her possible physical abilities, combined with her elaborate burial and the presence of a roe deer headdress with antlers, has led to the suggestion she was a shaman; for this reason she is often referred to as the "Bad Dürrenberg Shaman". A pair of antler headdresses were buried 3 ft (0.91 m) from her grave 600 years after her death, suggesting she was remembered and revered centuries later.

The baby was 6–8 months old at death. Genetic analysis identified the infant as male. Testing found he was a fourth or fifth degree genetic relative of the Shaman with a shared mitochondrial haplogroup; she may have been a direct relative, such as his great-great-grandmother, or she may have been an aunt or cousin several generations removed. Previously, the baby was assumed to be her child.

Further reading

• Meller, Harald; Michel, Kai (2022). Das Rätsel der Schamanin: eine archäologische Reise zu unseren Anfängen (in German) (Originalausgabe ed.). Hamburg: Rowohlt. ISBN 9783498003012.
• Mykhailova, Nataliia (2019). "'Shaman' burials in prehistoric Europe. Gendered images?". In Koch, Julia Katharina; Kirleis, Weibke (eds.). Gender Transformations in Prehistoric and Archaic Societies (PDF). Leiden: Sidestone Press. pp. 341–362. ISBN 978-90-8890-823-1. Retrieved 7 December 2023.

External links

• The ›shaman‹ from Bad Dürrenberg - Halle State Museum of Prehistory