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Unique Grave of Iron Age Woman With a Knife Stuck in Her Heart Stuns Archeologists

The knife was found in good condition and the team believes it could have been placed with the woman before the burial.

PUBLISHED NOV 7, 2024

A young archaeologist excavating a part of a human skeleton and skull from the ground. (Cover Image Source: Getty Images/Photo by MICROGEN IMAGES/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY)

Archaeologists recently unearthed an Iron Age woman from her grave in Sweden and found something peculiar jabbed in her chest. The discovery was made in the southern Swedish borough of Pryssgården, about 105 miles (169 kilometers) southwest of Stockholm, Live Science reported. There were around 50 burials in the area, but the woman grabbed attention because a knife was poked into her chest.

Sunlight through cypriot archways. Silhouette of graveyard crosses on brick wall during sunset. West Brompton Cemetery, London, UK. (Image Source: Getty Images/Angel Santana) — Silhouette of graveyard crosses on the brick wall during sunset. West Brompton Cemetery, London, UK. (Image Source: Getty Images/Angel Santana)

The burials are all dated somewhere between 500 B.C. and 400 A.D, Live Science reported. As far as the knife in the woman's chest is concerned, researchers still can't figure out the reason behind this unique occurrence.

No other grave contained the body in this condition. The one thing that they do know is that the knife was meant for the woman, and did not get placed there by mistake, according to a statement released by the research team.

The knife was found in good condition and the team believes it could have been placed with the woman before the burial, The Independent reported. "It is also very well preserved and may have been on the pyre before it was staked,” archaeologist Moa Gillberg said. Though not at the same site similar graves with people carrying tools like knives were located in other Swedish burial grounds.

Moa Gillberg, an archaeologist at Sweden's National Historical Museums, excavates one of the Pryssgården Iron Age graves. (Image Source: Arckeologerna/ Photo by Henrik Pihl, The Archaeologists, National Historical Museums, Sweden; CC BY.) — Moa Gillberg, an archaeologist at Sweden's National Historical Museums, excavates one of the Pryssgården Iron Age graves. (Image Source: Arkeologerna/ Photo by Henrik Pihl, The Archaeologists, National Historical Museums, Sweden; CC BY.)

Researchers learned about the site from a late-17th-century text written by the Swedish priest, Ericus Hemengius, Live Science reported. In the text, Hemengius cataloged all the ancient cemeteries within his parish. After analyzing the document, archaeologists decided to search for the graves but did not have much hope. They had doubts whether the graves had survived after such a long time. The cemetery in Pryssgården removed all their uncertainties.

Archaeologists first analyzed the surface of the site and then dug deeper after finding sufficient evidence, The Independent reported. "When we started to excavate the earth, there were two more small skull fragments and then smaller stone packings. We also found two fibulas, costume buckles, and a costume pin at the launch site with the detector," Gillberg explained. "Then we realized that we were probably on to something and that it could be about the burial ground that the priest was talking about," she further added.