The discovery was made near the village of Żórawina, just south of Wrocław, during excavations of a much later cemetery dating from about 350 to 430 CE, Polish state news agency PAP reported.
Researchers found the prehistoric burial mound shortly before completing this summer’s excavation.
Its contents have been provisionally dated to shortly before 2900 BCE, placing them around the beginning of the Corded Ware period in Europe.
Radiocarbon dating is underway.
“The necklace consisted of 42 single-cusped teeth, incisors and canines,” said Paweł Dąbrowski, an anthropologist and anatomist at Wrocław Medical University. “The teeth had been drilled and must have been threaded onto some kind of cord, as their arrangement shows.”
The teeth came from large mammals, possibly including wolves, deer and a young bear. Researchers have yet to rule out the presence of human teeth.
Bone and amber beads were also found beside the necklace.
Deeper in the mound, archaeologists uncovered the skeleton of an adult man together with a small flint projectile point, a flint knife and a stone axe showing signs of use. The axe provided the basis for the preliminary dating.
Remains of two human skulls were found near the necklace. Researchers are examining whether they had been deliberately decapitated and placed in the grave, possibly as offerings.
Dąbrowski said the combination of objects raises the possibility that the man was a hunter, warrior or high-status member of his community.
Archaeologist Tomasz Gralak of the University of Wrocław, who led the excavation, suggested the man may have been the patriarch of a family group.
The archeologists stress that these interpretations remain preliminary. Samples have been prepared for radiocarbon dating, with results expected in the fall.
Two similar burial mounds were discovered at about the same time in Iwiny, several kilometers away.
Archaeologists say, one contained a human skeleton, two axes, flint objects and amber ornaments, and the other bones of a calf, possibly the remains of a sacrificed animal.
Researchers plan to combine material from Żórawina and Iwiny for genetic, anatomical and chemical studies.
DNA analysis of the necklace should establish which species the teeth came from, while examination of the human remains may provide information about biological relationships, ancestry, diet and migration.
The skeleton from Żórawina is fragile and some bones were removed together with the surrounding soil.
Dąbrowski said researchers plan to X-ray the blocks before carefully exposing the remains and will look for evidence of injuries that could support the theory that the man was a hunter or warrior.
Analysis of bone tissue and tooth enamel may also indicate what the people ate and whether their food was tough and fibrous or had been cooked or otherwise processed.
According to Dąbrowski, the finds are the first burial mounds of this age identified in the immediate Wrocław area.
Their discovery could provide new evidence about the presence of Corded Ware communities in the region and their movement across prehistoric Europe.
(rt/gs)
Source: dzieje.pl