In the Middle Ages being dead wasn’t a guarantee you would rest in peace. Researchers have found hundreds of examples of people re-opening graves in cemeteries from Transylvania to southern England in the 5th – 7th centuries AD.
What could this mean? The first explanation for the apparently inconsistent reopening of graves and removal of artifacts, or fragments of artifacts, was common grave robbery. But a new study published in the journal Antiquitychallenges that view, saying that the widespread re-opening of graves did not signal theft, and it was actually a part of regular mortuary practices at the time.
Reconstruction of a chamber grave from eastern France. (figure by B. Clarys/Antiquity)
“Excavators Have Realized that Something Stranger is Going On”
This study demonstrates that in early Medieval Europe the dead and their possessions continued to be important after they were buried. Lead author of the research Dr. Alison Klevnäs from Stockholm University explained,
“For over a hundred years, archaeologists in many European countries have discovered graves from the early medieval period which look like they were robbed soon after burial. But over the decades, many excavators have realized that something stranger is going on.”