Wife Buried Next To Husband For 1,000 Years Had Face Hollowed Out

[maximus otter]

Archaeologists are scratching their heads over the 1,000-year-old remains of a woman, buried next to her husband, with her face and head hollowed out.

The curious couple had been unearthed in the former royal palace of Helfta in Eisleben, in the German state of Saxony.

The alleged bride, who stood at five feet, was lying next to her slightly bigger husband.

It’s not yet clear how or when they died, however most peculiar was the fact that the wife was missing all the bones in her face while her husband’s countenance was still intact.

Unfortunately, as of yet, the reason for the bride’s literal loss of face remains a mystery.

https://nypost.com/2023/11/03/lifes...husband-for-1000-years-had-face-hollowed-out/

maximus otter

 

[catseye]

Oh, now that's not going to give me nightmares for weeks...

 

[Swifty]

Archaeologists are scratching their heads over the 1,000-year-old remains of a woman, buried next to her husband, with her face and head hollowed out.

The curious couple had been unearthed in the former royal palace of Helfta in Eisleben, in the German state of Saxony.

The alleged bride, who stood at five feet, was lying next to her slightly bigger husband.

It’s not yet clear how or when they died, however most peculiar was the fact that the wife was missing all the bones in her face while her husband’s countenance was still intact.

Unfortunately, as of yet, the reason for the bride’s literal loss of face remains a mystery.

https://nypost.com/2023/11/03/lifes...husband-for-1000-years-had-face-hollowed-out/

maximus otter

I reckon she kept moving his important stuff around from where he'd deliberately left it because it was important to him so he'd remember where he'd left it .... but no .... she wanted to "tidy up". Then he finally snapped.

 

[catseye]

I reckon she kept moving his important stuff around from where he'd deliberately left it because it was important to him so he'd remember where he'd left it ....

...all over the kitchen table and the living room floor, and the bed.

 

[Mythopoeika]

It's possible that this couple were attacked, brutally murdered and someone used a sword to cut off the woman's face.
Times were brutal and anarchic back then.

 

[catseye]

It's possible that this couple were attacked, brutally murdered and someone used a sword to cut off the woman's face.
Times were brutal and anarchic back then.

But surely that would leave at least some of the face, and mangled bones, with the edges of the remaining bones showing obvious signs of severance. I would have thought that would have been mentioned should it have been the case.

 

[Swifty]

But surely that would leave at least some of the face, and mangled bones, with the edges of the remaining bones showing obvious signs of severance. I would have thought that would have been mentioned should it have been the case.

That's just what can happen when you repeatedly hide up a man's stuff. I'm not saying it's right. I haven't cut my Mrs's face off into oblivion vortex levels but it is very unhelpful when you keep having to say "*****, where have you moved my job interview letter to? .. where's your asthma inhaler? ... where's that bomb that was about to explode? .. etc etc etc ..

Joking (a bit) aside, yeah, it's weird that her head now only looks like an empty pudding bowl. Maybe she was a person of wealth or royalty like importance and whoever did this wanted to erase all evidence? ..

 

[Mythopoeika]

Any archaeologists on the board care to comment?

 

[Swifty]

I've just noticed .. neither of them seem to have two legs in the image. Photoshop prank?

 

[Mythopoeika]

I've just noticed .. neither of them seem to have two legs in the image. Photoshop prank?

Look again.
But they do have short legs. The woman seems to have her right arm missing.
The man has a large skull for his body.

 

[SimonBurchell]

The man has a large skull for his body.

Perhaps he's wearing her face as a mask

 

[Mythopoeika]

Perhaps he's wearing her face as a mask

 

[bugmum]

Husband's family REALLY didn't like her...?

 

[Kondoru]

How do we know they were husband and wife?

 

[catseye]

How do we know they were husband and wife?

I can't see that they've even categorically decided that they were male and female. And given that the male had grave goods and the 'female' didn't, whether they were even buried 'together' as opposed to shoved in the same grave.

 

[Aether Blue]

I wonder whether the apparent damage to the woman's face might not be what paleontologists call a "preservation artifact." In other words, maybe she had a face when she was buried, but through some fluke of decay or the burial environment, a persistent drip of water, for example, her face eroded afterward.

If that's NOT the case, then this discovery is quite disturbing...

 

[Steven]

Maybe she was a person of wealth or royalty like importance and whoever did this wanted to erase all evidence? ..

Yes. it kinda brought to mind both Akhenaten and - admittedly at a stretch - Stalin & co's 'non-personing' activities.

 

[Erinaceus]

There are a couple of clearer photos here


This article says the burials were less than a foot deep.
"Researchers hope to determine what happened to sheer off the woman’s face and the top of her skull, whether it was agricultural equipment interfering with the burial or something else. If her head was damaged by an encounter with the business end of a plough, for example, there is no clear evidence of it in the soil around her, nor was her companion damaged by the same equipment."

 

[Shadowsot]

Looks like they don't have enough information yet if they haven't determined if it was done at the time or burial or more recently.

 

[Frideswide]

Is the time right for a second archaeologist to comment? we've been standing back I think?

 

[eburacum]

I'd be interested in what you have to say. I can think of a couple of hypotheses but they may be wide of the mark.

 

[Sid]

I'd be interested in what you have to say. I can think of a couple of hypotheses but they may be wide of the mark.

I note (looking at the Archaeological photograph) that any remains of her right arm, and part of her right hip seem to be completely missing too?

 

[eburacum]

To be honest, the male skeleton looks extremely damaged in the facial region as well. Some phenomenon seems to have created a level surface, or layer, above which little remains intact.

I suspect that phenomenon would be human activity of some sort - perhaps ploughing, or levelling the soil to make a flat surface for some reason or other. I expect the persons responsible didn't even notice the bones sticking out of the ground.