For decades, the painted tombs of Tarquinia, Italy, have been viewed as artwork depicting scenes of music, feasting, processions, and the afterlife that date back to the first millennium BCE.

A recent study took a different approach to interpreting these paintings by examining how the physical characteristics of these tombs might have affected the senses of the ancient people who visited them. Archaeologists Maurizio Forte of Duke University and Jacqueline Ortoleva of the University of Oxford used AI-assisted visual analysis, 3D architectural modeling, and acoustic surveys to reconstruct the physical experience of entering two tombs over 2,400 years old.

The researchers propose that these tombs not only served as burial sites but also as spaces that could shape visitors’ sensory experiences. Their findings, published in the Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory, indicate that the two chambers could have produced contrasting sensory effects.

Modeling What Ancient Visitors Would Have Felt

Forte and Ortoleva prepared detailed three-dimensional models of both tombs and conducted acoustic surveys in order to gain an understanding of the sensory experience. To do this, they played recorded handclaps at different locations within each chamber and measured how the sound decayed and propagated through the space. The results indicated that low-frequency sounds under 1,000 Hz were particularly important in this environment. Forte and Ortoleva stated that people not only hear these sounds but also feel them in the body, where they can cause vibration, disorientation, and possibly alterations in cognitive state.

The team used AI models to identify features that may have attracted attention and to determine where rituals may have taken place. Lighting relied on candlelight, as torches would have produced unsafe amounts of smoke in these confined spaces.

A Calming Experience

Built between 450 and 400 BCE, the smaller Tomba del Gallo offers a striking contrast to the larger tomb. A steep stairway measuring 3.31 meters long and 2.5 meters wide descends to a burial chamber. The artists painted a banquet scene on one wall of the stairway corridor and musicians playing pipe instruments on the opposite wall.. This stairway leads directly into the main chamber.

In the main chamber, visitors naturally focus on the paintings and on points where the architecture changes. Areas of high curvature where the chamber walls meet function as visual focal points. Visitors may have used these areas for ritual offerings or performed ritual gestures there.

The acoustics in the Tomba del Gallo also suggest this function. The reverberation in the chamber is short and doesn’t allow sound to build up. Instead, it rises and moves away from the space. The researchers’ simulations link the combination of clear sightlines and short reverberation to alpha-band brain activity, often associated with relaxed alertness and focused visual attention. The researchers describe the result as a comparatively calm, focused experience that lets visitors concentrate on the paintings.

A Disorienting Descent Into the Afterlife

The second tomb, Tomba dei Demoni Azzurri, dates to the same period, between 450 and 420 BCE. The burial chamber is much larger, measuring 6.2 by 6.1 meters, almost four times as large as that of Tomba del Gallo.

One image in the tomb depicts a group of demons with a small boat carrying a woman and a smaller man. Etruscan iconography often associated demons with the afterlife.

Compared with the Tomba del Gallo, the acoustics in this chamber are considerably more intense. The reverberation is greater and lasts longer, particularly in the area near the banquet scene, and sound passes easily between the tomb and the outside area. Forte and Ortoleva state that the variety of reverberation times means both low-frequency sounds, such as drumbeats or handclaps, and high-frequency sounds such as voices would have echoed throughout the space, thus producing a far more powerful sonic environment than in the smaller tomb.

“Visual saliency analysis identifies the blue demon on the right wall as an extreme attentional attractor,” Forte and Ortoleva write. “The demon’s chromatic qualities, combined with its aggressive posture and spatial prominence in the center of the burial chamber’s right wall, produce an element of visual surprise. The visual gaze is arrested and attention seems to be forcibly captured. This is paralleled by the acoustics of the tomb.”

The combination of low-frequency vibration, loss of spatial orientation, and increasingly unintelligible speech may have left visitors feeling disembodied and disoriented. The team’s simulations link these effects to beta-band activity and transient gamma bursts, which are associated with heightened alertness and threat detection.

An Open Question

Together, the two tombs suggest that Etruscan mourners moved through carefully arranged environments of candlelight, painted figures, and resonant sound, with each tomb offering a distinct sensory experience. It remains unclear whether the tomb builders intentionally designed these effects or if they simply resulted from the available architecture and materials.

Austin Burgess is a writer and researcher with a background in sales, marketing, and data analytics. He holds an MBA, a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration, and a data analytics certification. His work focuses on breaking scientific developments, with an emphasis on emerging biology, cognitive neuroscience, and archaeological discoveries.

In 2022, when archaeologists uncovered the grave of a young woman buried in 17th-century Pień, Poland, they were confronted with a bizarre scene. Hanging from the big toe of her left foot was an iron padlock. Across her neck lay a large sickle, its blade positioned directly toward her throat.

The strange arrangement suggested that whoever buried her may have feared that, like the vampires of European folklore, she might somehow rise from the grave.

In the four years since “Grave 75” was discovered, scientists have subjected the young woman’s remains, clothing, grave, and the mysterious objects buried with her to an unusually extensive forensic investigation involving ancient DNA, radiocarbon dating, isotope chemistry, X-ray imaging, and microscopic analysis.

Published in the Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, the findings are beginning to reveal who the mysterious woman was. She was only around 17 to 19 years old when she died, appears to have come from a wealthy or high-status family, and probably spent her childhood in the surrounding region.

Most strikingly, the evidence suggests that local fears surrounding the young woman may have grown after she was already buried.

Researchers believe the padlock was placed on her toe during the first burial. Sometime later, the grave was apparently reopened and the sickle positioned across her neck as an additional safeguard.

The circumstances surrounding the young woman’s death, and why the community apparently feared her enough to take such extraordinary precautions against her trying to return to the land of the living, remain a mystery.

“The burial, uncovered and later disturbed, is distinguished by the co-occurrence of a sickle and a padlock within a single grave, a combination not previously reported in the published archaeological literature,” researchers write. “Ongoing palaeopathological research may shed new light on the cause of death of this young female, which remains a mystery today.”

The grave represents what archaeologists describe as an “anti-demonic” or “anti-vampiric” burial. However, the researchers caution that applying the familiar label of “vampire” to such graves can be misleading.

Although versions of the term vampire can be traced as far back as the Middle Ages, it did not become widespread across Europe until around the 18th century. Earlier Slavic cultures used terms including upiór and strzyga to describe people who, after death, were believed capable of becoming dangerous supernatural beings that could threaten the living.

Researchers have identified several hundred suspected anti-vampire burials dating from the post-medieval period onward across Central and Southeastern Europe.

“Grave 75” was discovered at a cemetery in Pień overlooking the Vistula Valley, where archaeologists have uncovered more than 100 post-medieval graves. Researchers believe the cemetery may have served a Protestant community, and its unusual location away from the village raises the possibility that it was also used to bury people considered social outsiders. Several dozen graves contain unusual features, including deliberately placed stones, coins, sickles, and padlocks.

Sickles and padlocks have both been associated with old European burial practices intended to prevent potentially dangerous dead from returning to harm the living. But finding the two together in one “vampire grave” was unprecedented. No previously published archaeological account had documented a burial containing both a sickle and a padlock.

The woman lay on her back with her legs extended. Around her neck was a 14-inch-long serrated sickle, positioned with its cutting edge toward her throat. Hanging from the big toe of her left foot was a triangular iron padlock. Archaeologists also recovered fragments of an elaborate textile near her skull.

Microscopic analysis showed the material was silk decorated with metal threads made from silver and gilded silver. Such expensive trimmings were generally associated with aristocrats, nobility, and wealthy townspeople. Researchers, therefore, conclude that the teenager likely came from a relatively high social class, making her apparent treatment after death particularly unusual.

Analysis of her skeleton offered few indications about how she died. Researchers estimated that she stood roughly 5 feet 5 inches tall and found no evidence of fatal trauma or skeletal disease that might explain her death. Without any surviving soft tissue, however, determining a definitive cause of death may be impossible.

DNA confirmed the remains belonged to a female and placed her mitochondrial lineage within haplogroup J1c2c1, a lineage found particularly among ancient and modern Scandinavian populations.

Isotope measurements suggest she probably spent her childhood around Pień. One possibility is that she belonged to a family with more distant Scandinavian ancestry, although the researchers caution that genetics and isotopes cannot establish geographic origin with certainty.

More intriguing is evidence that the precautions surrounding her body were not all taken at the same time.

The padlock appears to have been attached when she was originally buried. The sickle may have come later.

Disturbed soil around the vampire grave suggests somebody subsequently reopened it. Because the skeleton remained articulated, researchers believe that, if it were reopened, it probably happened before the body had completely decomposed. At that point, someone may have placed or driven the sickle across her neck as an additional safeguard.

That raises a disturbing possibility that the community already regarded the young woman as potentially dangerous when she died. Yet, for unknown reasons, they became even more frightened of her after her burial.

Historical traditions provide some context. In parts of Poland, a sickle placed across the throat was believed to prevent a strzyga from returning. Birch, one possible wood identified in the sickle’s deteriorated handle, was itself associated with protection against demons and witchcraft.

There may have even been yet another precaution. Extensive green discoloration inside the skull suggests that an object containing copper could have been placed in her mouth. Chemical analysis could not determine what it was, although researchers say it was unlikely to be a coin. Objects inserted into the mouths of suspected revenants are known from other “anti-vampiric” burials.

None of this means the woman was literally considered a “vampire” in the modern Dracula sense. Instead, the evidence points toward a wider fear that certain dead people could return or somehow cause harm.

Why this particular teenager inspired such fear is still a mystery. Researchers suggest her ancestry, young age, an unusual or socially troubling death, disease, or behavior during life could all have contributed.

In periods of epidemic, famine, and other disasters, communities sometimes blamed supposedly dangerous dead people for otherwise inexplicable misfortune. Researchers stress that these explanations remain hypotheses, not proof of what her contemporaries believed.

For now, the only thing that seems certain is that the local community feared this young woman enough to secure her body not only once, but returned to her grave to secure it again.

“Grave 75, as well as other non-normative graves in the cemetery in Pien, demonstrate practices of a protective/anti-demonic nature,” researchers write. “[They] vividly illustrate superstitions, including the tendency to blame the deceased for misfortunes and the fear of the unknown in the 17th-century Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.”

The recent study, “A unique, non-normative burial of a young adult female from a 17th-century cemetery in Pień, north-central Poland. A multidisciplinary approach,” appeared in the Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports.

Tim McMillan is a retired law enforcement executive, investigative reporter and co-founder of The Debrief. His writing typically focuses on defense, national security, the Intelligence Community and topics related to psychology. You can follow Tim on Twitter: @LtTimMcMillan.  Tim can be reached by email: tim@thedebrief.org or through encrypted email: LtTimMcMillan@protonmail.com 

A small object made of dark stone, carved with astonishing precision almost 3,500 years ago, has provided researchers with one of the clearest windows yet into the religion of ancient Crete. It is the inscription known as IO Za 2, engraved on a tiny libation table made of dark green serpentinite, measuring just 4.3 centimeters […]

At the site of Gradište, close to the village of Mlado Nagoričane, archaeologists from North Macedonia have uncovered what they believe was a ritual dining complex associated with a Hellenistic sanctuary, providing new evidence of elite religious practices and extensive trade connections more than 2,300 years ago.

The discovery was made this year as part of an excavation campaign carried out by the National Institution Museum of Kumanovo.

This campaign focused on the Lower Terrace of the settlement. Earlier excavations had already uncovered rock-cut structures dating from the fourth century BC, stone features similar to tumuli, and a series of ritual deposits. The current excavation builds on this previous work and supports the view that the area served as an important religious center rather than a typical residential district.

A Goddess on a Storage Jar

To the east of a previously identified burial mound, the team found the walls of a building full of broken pithoi and other storage jars. One of these jars contained a decorated surface featuring finger-ring impressions showing a female deity.

Archaeologists believe the deity is Demeter, the ancient Greek Olympian goddess of agriculture, the harvest, and fertility, shown holding a cornucopia and pouring a libation from a kantharos onto a tripod. The team sees the imagery as strong evidence that ritual ceremonies occurred at the site.

Feasting in the Shadow of the Sanctuary Wall

In more southern areas, the excavators discovered part of a peribolos wall, a boundary intended to separate the sacred area from the rest of the settlement. Nearby, they came across a small room that archaeologists believe served as a space for ritual dining and symposium-style feasting linked to ceremonies within the sanctuary.

Although the room itself was modest in size, its contents suggest it served an important ceremonial purpose. Archaeologists found large amounts of animal bones, including those of wild boar and goats, suggesting communal feasting formed part of the site’s religious activities. Along with the bones, archaeologists recovered a notably rich assortment of imported Hellenistic tableware, including West Slope gutti, decorated kantharoi, and black-glazed echinus bowls with palmette designs, as well as amphorae, hydriae, additional drinking vessels, lamps, and terracotta figurines.

“The room was most likely associated with rituals performed within the temenos and appears to have been used for ritual dining,” the excavation team said, drawing a direct comparison to the Sanctuary of Demeter and Persephone at ancient Corinth.

A Couch Fit for a Deity

Another significant discovery was the architectural remains of a dining table, together with ornate fragments from a ceremonial dining couch, or kline. The finds include a molded couch leg and an appliqué depicting a reclining deity holding a phiale, a shallow vessel used for libations.

Researchers suggest the figure was part of a wider scene depicting a sympotic procession or a gathering of the gods. Ornaments of this type are uncommon outside of elite Hellenistic burial settings. Archaeologists have previously uncovered similar kline ornaments at wealthy Hellenistic burial sites in Pella and the royal tombs at Aigai.

A Growing Picture of Gradište

For a long time now, Gradište has been yielding very significant discoveries. Previous excavations at Gradište uncovered a peristyle building decorated with painted plaster, along with imported amphorae and finely crafted ceramics. Together with the latest discoveries, the finds suggest the settlement was well connected to the broader cultural and commercial networks of the Hellenistic world.

Future excavations will focus on expanding the newly discovered buildings and determining whether a temple once stood within this part of the sanctuary.

Austin Burgess is a writer and researcher with a background in sales, marketing, and data analytics. He holds an MBA, a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration, and a data analytics certification. His work focuses on breaking scientific developments, with an emphasis on emerging biology, cognitive neuroscience, and archaeological discoveries.

New analysis of microscopic plant remains collected from ashy pits within Cloggs Cave on Australian Aboriginal nation land confirms that local ancient inhabitants burned chosen grasses for magic and spiritual rituals dating back 25,000 years before present.

The research team behind the new analysis said the evidence also suggests that the ancient cave has been in continuous use throughout the entire timespan, offering scientists a rare glimpse into the magic and spiritual beliefs of Australia’s ancient inhabitants.

Oral Traditions Said Coggs Cave was Used for Magic and Spiritual Rituals

According to a statement announcing the ‘magical’ discovery, 19th-century ethnographic reports recorded a network of caves in Gippsland and the Southern Victorian Alps. Those same reports also noted that local oral traditions suggested that the caves were used by powerful women and men called “mulla-mullung” and other spiritual practitioners for magic, healing, and “cursing” rituals.

Previous archaeological expeditions determined that these caves, including the study site at Cloggs Cave, were occupied throughout the past 25,000 years. However, little direct evidence has been provided to support the oral traditions of magic and healing taking place within the caves.

Instead of cave art or other magical relics that may not have survived the passage of time, the research team, led by Dr Elle Grono, School of Culture, History and Language, ANU College of Asia and the Pacific, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia, focused on phytoliths, which are microscopic silica bodies from plants recovered from Cloggs Cave. To gain insight into the potential uses of Cloggs Cave, the studied phytoliths were recovered from its buried deposits.

When detailing the process, Dr. Grono said that phytoliths have the advantage of mostly accumulating where a plant decays. Conversely, plant pollen can be dispersed by winds or insects, diminishing some of their historic site value. This difference is critical, Grono said, because phytoliths found inside Cloggs Cave must have come from humans or other animals bringing them inside.

“No plants grow inside the cave due to a lack of light, so the phytoliths must have been carried in by people or by animals such as possums on their fur or through their scats,” the team leader explained.

Excavation of Ashy Deposits Includes Unexpected “Standing Stone”

To determine the taxonomic groups of the thousands of recovered phytoliths, the team examined the samples under a microscope. To ensure the samples were from plants brought into the cave by humans and not animals, the team used specimens collected from one pit that was 1.5 meters deep and a second that was 2.3 meters deep.

Grono said the team also exclusively studied half-burnt phytoliths from “ashy” layers within the pits. The researcher noted that this extra selection criterion also helps ensure the samples came from samples brought into the caves by humans, “as unburnt ones might have arrived through either means.”

The top layer of the two pits consisted of 73 thin, ashy layers of burnt plant material. When the research team performed optically stimulated luminescence and carbon dating tests to establish when the material was laid down, the latter via accelerator mass spectrometry,  the results placed the deposition of the material between 4,400 and 1,600 years ago.

When searching through the ashy pits, the team found a 28-cm-high “standing” stone. They note that subsequent analysis showed that the stone was likely erected in Cobbs Cave “by Old Ancestors for ritual purposes around 2,000 years ago.”

The “Old Ancestors” Were Selective About Which Grasses Were Brought Inside

When the analysis was complete, the team had identified 29 different phytolith types representing a wide range of plants. This included woody plants, herbs, and grasses.

The team determined that as much as 97% of the burnt matter came from grass. This included disparate species, such as grasses that prefer temperate or cooler climates and grasses that prefer warm and humid conditions to thrive, deposited in the same ash layer.

“Here we show that the Old Ancestors selected whole grasses from the wider landscape and carried them into Cloggs Cave to spread out in thin layers and burn,”  Dr. Grono said. “Over time, sediments covered these burnt layers, preserving each layer on top of another over thousands of years.”

The researchers said the taxonomic analysis revealed that the “Old Ancestors” were selective of which grass types they brought into the cave and which ones they omitted. For example, they avoided what the team noted were “diverse species” of grasses still plentiful in nearby riparian forest and open woodland before European settlement.

“The phytoliths found at Cloggs Cave were from different parts of grass plants such as stems, leaves, flowers, and roots, indicating that whole grasses were brought in, including the inedible parts,” Grono explained.

Selection and Burning Consistent With “Magic and Rituals”

Although there is no direct record of the reason the ancient people selected and burned grass inside of Cobbs Cave, dating back thousands of years, Professor Bruno David from Monash University, who co-led the excavations with GunaiKurnai Land and Waters Corporation, said the behavior is “consistent with GunaiKurnai traditional practices of using ash to perform magic and rituals.” Professor David also noted the practice could allow the participants to track the footsteps of anyone entering the cave, “including spirit beings.”

The team also found macro-botanical evidence, including fat-smeared trimmed wooden sticks from Casuarina trees, in deeper and older pit deposits. Professor David said this discovery suggests that “other kinds of rituals using woody plants” were also performed in Cobbs Cave.

When discussing the historical significance of the discovery, the researchers said that finding partially or completely burned phytoliths “throughout the dated deposits” suggests that humans intentionally brought selected plants and grasses into the cave and burned them “over the entire timespan of the past 25,000 years.”

The study “Phytoliths from Cloggs Cave, GunaiKurnai Country (southeastern Australia) reveal the gathering of whole grasses for burning practices inside the cave” was published in Frontiers in Environmental Archaeology.

Christopher Plain is a Science Fiction and Fantasy novelist and has spent the last six years as Associate News Editor and Head Science Writer at The Debrief. Follow and connect with him on X, learn about his books at plainfiction.com, or email him at christopher@thedebrief.org

A 7,000-year-old village may have practiced a haunting skull ritual that left bodies behind