The skeleton of a young woman once suspected of being a " lamia " has been unearth by archaeologist in Poland . Her body was found within a 17th - century cemetery with an iron sickle placed across her neck and a Triangulum padlock on her enceinte toe , apparently to control she could n’t make for mayhem from beyond the tomb .
The ghastly remains were latterly discover in the Polish hamlet of Pień by researcher from the Archaeology Institute of Nicolaus Copernicus University . The graveyard was earlier excavated between 2005 and 2009 , but a late survey this summertime revealed even more graves , one of which the archaeologist described as “ sensational ” and specially alone in a statement sent to IFLScience .
The researchers say that there are many unknown quantity besiege the discovery , but it ’s exonerated something strange hold out on . Along with the reap hook across her neck and padlock toe , the squad also found that her mind was placed on a pillow and she was likely put on a silk cap , suggest she came from a moneyed family .
Another shot of the ill-fated woman. Image credit: Mirosław Blicharski
It ’s unsettled how she go ; she may have been murdered or perhaps she died of disease . However , lead researcher prof Dariusz Poliński does not believe she was sentenced to last in a witchery trial because typically these mass were in haste bemuse into provisional graves near the gallows .
Instead , the unusual objects laid across the new woman head the team to suspect her local community believed she was a vampire who might seek retaliation for her untimely end .
" It is potential that in her lifetime the char experience a catastrophe and was harmed . On the other hand , her coming into court or behavior might have provoked the modern-day residents to be afraid of her , but this may only be proved by more research on the skeleton in the cupboard , " Poliński said in the statement .
" The seventeenth century was an era when people believed in vampire . In the eccentric of this enigmatical grave in Pień there are more question than answers . "
legend of vampireshave survive for thousands of years and can be found in unlike culture from much every nook of the existence . fear of these bloodsucking beast wereparticularly gamy in Europeduring the early modernistic period when you findplenty of evidenceof terrified townspeople fearing the ire of undead creatures with an appetite for line of descent .
Back in 2016 , archaeologists in Poland dig up a number of 13th and 14th centuries grave accent near the village of Górzyca anddiscovered three skeletonsthat had unusual holes in their spines , suggesting they had been nailed down so as to prevent them from rising again . The bodies had also been mutilated and buried human face down in a bid to further hamper their efforts to turn tail the grave .
They ’d have to wait until the 1800s forofficial vampire kitsto start up going on sales event , though .
