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archeologist have unearth the grave accent of a humans press down by stones — apparently to prevent him from rising from the dead as a " revenant " — while excavate around a seventeenth - hundred gallows in Germany .
The grave , located near the township of Quedlinburg in the State Department of Saxony - Anhalt , is one of at least 16 find at the gallows situation , where crook were executed by string up from the 1660s until the early 19th century .
Large stones were placed on the chest of a man buried at the execution site, supposedly to prevent him “rising from the grave” as a “revenant."
reverence of such revenants in Europe rose between the 16th and 18th centuries , Marita Genesis , an archaeologist who is leading the excavations on behalf of state authorities , told Live Science .
" These were people who had possibly died an former end , or a sudden death , without confession or remission of sin , " she allege . " It was reverence that they might return to the realm of living , [ so ] various measures were use up to prevent the gone from doing so . "
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One of the two “bone pits” unearthed at the execution site; archaeologists think these were for the remains of criminals that had been disrupted by later burials.
Such measures could include spraying incense , placing wooden crisscross , bind the limbs of the departed , or covering them with brushwood , she said . In this instance , the human was bury on his back , without a coffin , and large rock were place on his chest of drawers — a measure " plain intended to forestall him from rising from the grave , " Genesis said .
The buried skeleton exhibit no signs of execution , though hanging and drowning would n’t have left any seeable stain . Further examinations may expose how the man died , she said .
Gallows hill
The slaying site was a " galgenberg " — " gallows hill " in English — where convicted felon were hanged and often buried so no one had to carry the bodies long distances , Genesis say . The web site has at least 16 individual graves and two " bone pits " that held remains upset by late burial .
Some of the frame show abrupt - force injury that may have been inflicted during torture on " the bike " or during " draw , " a gruesome form of execution allow for the worst criminals .
Most of the deceased , including the " revenant , " were buried without coffins .
One of the people buried at the site was placed in a wooden coffin, which has now mostly rotted away; archaeologists think this person took their own life.
" People were usually buried lovelessly in the ground like beast carcasses , without any fellow feeling or tending , " Genesis say . They often lie on their stomachs or on their sides with their men on top of each other , " which indicates that they were bind , " she lend .
Strange burial
But one of the burials at Quedlinburg is unusual because the person was interred in a wooden coffin , lie in on their back with their hands placed in front of them . The archaeologists surmise this person had kill themselves , which was then see as a type of murder — so the law need that they be bury at an execution site , Genesis said .
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Yet the coffin showed sign of precaution and compassionateness during the sepulture , and three amber beads suggest a Christian prayer beads was placed with the deceased , she say .
archeologist think tens of G of such execution site must have existed in Europe ; many have now been destroy by farming and urban development , but the few that remain are an important source of information for archeologist .
" Looking into the level of a home of execution take a shit it possible to translate the legal story of the respective region , as if in a Scripture , " Genesis said .
