Within The 1,500-Year-Old Grave Of A Wealthy Man From Germany, Archaeologists Found A Carved Ivory Beard Comb And Fine Weapons, Suggesting He Was A Warrior Who Cared About His Physical Appearance
In 2021, archaeologists in Bavaria, Germany, discovered the grave of a wealthy man who died about 1,500 years ago.
Based on the grave goods he was buried with, he seemed to have been a warrior who took great care to maintain his physical appearance.
The man was around 40 to 50 years old when he died. He was laid to rest in luxury, with a horse, fine weapons, and toiletry items, including a pair of scissors and an elaborately carved ivory comb that may have been used to groom his hair and beard.
In addition, the archaeologists uncovered a second grave containing the remains of a woman who was between 30 and 40 years old at the time of her death.
She was buried with items that were just as rich and ornate, such as food, jewelry, and a red ceramic bowl from northern Africa, according to the Bavarian State Office for Monument Protection. It is unclear how the artifacts arrived in Central Europe.
The graves were located in Nördlinger Ries, an ancient crater in southern Germany that measures 16 miles in diameter.
It was formed by a meteor strike and was identified in the 1960s. The subtle shape of the crater’s central depression was hidden by the surrounding landscape, so it was not easy to detect.
Both burials dated to the sixth century A.D. During that time, mostly Germanic Alemanni people lived in the region, and they were under the control of the Franks.
The grave goods may have been gifts from a ruler, or they were looted during battles in what is now Italy.
USM Photography – stock.adobe.com – illustrative purposes only, not the actual person
The ivory comb had been heavily damaged. After extensive restoration work, experts found carved decorations of gazelle-like animals on both sides of the comb.
The creatures were leaping to escape predators that did not exist in Europe. So, it appeared that the scenes on the comb were based on African wildlife.
Combs are common in burials from the Middle Ages, but they are typically much simpler than the ivory one.
In sixth-century graves, ivory carvings on combs are a rarity. Those that do exist are engraved with Christian imagery.
The man’s skeleton was accompanied by a shield, battle axe, lance, longsword, and the remains of a horse, indicating his wealth and importance.
In the woman’s grave, there were food items, such as preserved eggs, along with a weaving sword, which is a wooden accessory used to tighten threads on a loom.
Most of the burial items were produced locally, but the one foreign object that really stood out was the red bowl from the woman’s grave.
The bowl was in excellent condition and was an example of African red slipware. It was likely crafted in what is now Tunisia.
Such bowls were known from the ancient Mediterranean trade. A cross stamped on the bowl’s base and markings on its rim may represent magical symbols or runes that spell out the owner’s name. The bowl is the first of its kind to be found intact so far north.
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