A statement shared Monday detailed how one of the oldest stone tombs ever discovered in Sweden was hiding a creepy mystery.
The gravesite uncovered in Tiarp, Sweden, is officially one of the oldest stone burial chambers discovered in the country, according to a statement from the University of Gothenburg. “It’s an early grave which dates to the Early Neolithic period, about 3500 BCE,” archaeologist Karl-Göran Sjögren said in the statement.
It appears the grave has been completely untouched since the Neolithic period (also known as the Stone Age). But there was something creepy about the bodies recovered within the tomb: some of them are missing their skulls and thigh bones, and no one can figure out why.
“This differs from what we usually see in megalith graves, i.e. stone burial chambers from the Neolithic period,” Sjögren continued. “Usually, the bones that are missing are smaller bones from feet and hands.”
1 of Sweden’s oldest stone tombs is mysteriously missing skulls https://t.co/jxakn963b2
— Live Science (@LiveScience) January 30, 2024
It’s believed that those buried at the site were farmers, some of the earliest to tame the land within what is modern-day Sweden. (RELATED: Researchers In Kazakhstan Find Girl Buried With More Than 150 Animal Bones)
“We haven’t seen any injuries on the people buried so we don’t think violence is involved. But we are continuing to study their DNA and that will show whether they had any diseases,” Sjögren noted.
Further analysis should hopefully reveal whether the missing body parts are some type of ritual. The site was only discovered during the summer of 2023, so there is plenty left to dig into!