Archaeologists have discovered fragmentary remains and bangles of a little Christian girl in a 1,700-year-old coffin.
A group of archaeologists in England opened up a 1,600-year-old-coffin Monday, found buried in a field in Warwickshire by a group of amateur historians. The coffin carried the body of a little girl.
On opening the burial box made of a single sheet of lead, sealed at the corners with molten lead, the archaeologists discovered the remains of a young girl along with two bangles made of jet, a dark black gem stone. Initial investigations reveal that the girl might have belonged to a rich Christian family.
"Finding the two jet bangles was a surprise," said Stuart Palmer, the business manger and head of the archaeology team, reports Huffington Post. "They rather suggest that the child was female although we cannot say with certainty if they were worn as bracelets, clothing adornments or were woven into long hair."
The researchers are over with the initial rounds of testing. But according to Palmer, the team will carry on with tracing evidence from the coffin and some samples have been sent for radio-carbon dating. The analysis will also include testing the soil and chemical probing.
In fact, the burial box can be an important clue for the researchers to trace back the traditions and the culture of the society that existed thousands of years ago including their burial practices, daily wear etc.
[The coffin's discovery] is important because it's a rare opportunity to look at the burial customs, the environment and the type of clothing," Palmer said, reports BBC. "We hope it will shed much needed light on a remote period of our past."
The name of the little girl is lost in history. So the archaeologist's team has suggested five names for the little girl and asked people to vote for one. The five names are "Oriens (rise - as the sun), Loquor (tell- declare), Addo (inspire), Accendo (illuminate) and Parvulus (infant)."
