1300-year-old child's grave in Bamberg thawed - "Ice Prince" from the 7th century
Created: 06/29/2022, 14:51
By: Thomas Eldersch
In Swabia, archaeologists have completely salvaged an approximately 1,300-year-old child's grave using shock freezing technology.
© Bavarian State Office for the Preservation of Monuments
A deep-frozen, 1300-year-old corpse of a boy from Swabia was frozen, taken to Bamberg and now thawed again.
Bamberg/Tussenhausen – For around 1,300 years, a little boy lay in his grave in Tussenhausen, Swabia, until archaeologists came across him.
That was a good three quarters of a year ago now.
In order to be able to examine the child's body better, the grave and the earth were shock-frozen.
Now it is being carefully thawed in Bamberg in Upper Franconia.
1300-year-old child's corpse is thawed in Bamberg
At the end of October 2021, the child's grave was discovered in Swabia.
The experts from the Bavarian State Office for the Preservation of Monuments had recovered the grave in October 2021 in Tussenhausen (Unterallgäu district) using a new shock-freezing technique.
Liquid nitrogen was used.
So that the find would not be damaged during salvage, the archaeologists frozen the entire earth and then dug the grave in one block.
The frozen grave, weighing 800 kilograms, was then taken to the branch office of the state office near Bamberg and initially stored in a freezer.
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In the depot of the state office in Upper Franconia, the grave will be thawed in the next few days, the authority said on Wednesday.
Unusual tools for archaeologists were used.
The restorers worked with hot air and soldering irons.
"So that the condensation water that is released does not damage the finds, it is drained off via a special suction device," the office said.
During breaks in processing, a cooling hood ensures a constant temperature of minus four degrees.
Did the “Ice Prince” come from a wealthy family?
The scientists want to find out whether the "Ice Prince" - as they call the boy who died in the 7th century - was, as suspected, a child from a wealthy background.
This is supported by the high-quality grave goods such as a sword with a belt decorated with gold fittings and jewelry such as gold leaf crosses and silver bracelets.
The boy, who probably lived to be no more than ten years old, was buried with a dog.
(phone with dpa)
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