A badger-turned-archaeologist made a "significant find" when it dug up a 12th century burial site containing the tombs of two medieval German Lords.
The site also contained precious artifacts such a sword, belt buckles, and bronze bowls, Spiegel Online reported.
Two hobby-archaeologists just happened to live on the property containing the burial ground.
"We spotted a pelvic bone that had been dug up, it was clearly human," Hendrikje Ring, who lives on the property, told Spiegel. "It wasn't exactly surprising to us because a whole field of ancient graves had been found on the other side of the road in the 1960s. So we pushed a camera into the badger's sett and took photos by remote control. We found pieces of jewelry, retrieved them and contacted the authorities."
The site contained at least eight graves, two of which are believed to have held "Slavic chieftains."
The bronze bowls were what gave away the chieftains identities.
"[The bowls] identified them as belonging to the social elite, they had the bowls to wash their hands before dining because they knew that was the refined thing to do," Thomas Kersting, an archaeologist at the Brandenburg Department for Monument Protection, told Spiegel.
One of the skeletons exhibited multiple sword wounds and a fracture, indicating they may have been a warrior.
"There were healed marks from sword strikes on his skull, it's really impressive, especially as he was relatively small. He was a tough guy," Kersting said.
The other noble skeleton was missing his sword, which may be an indication of past grave robbery.
"If someone went to this grave and opened it in full view of the local castle and took out the sword -- that's a sign that something's not working anymore. It highlights the time of upheaval when the rule of the Slavic tribes was coming to an end," Kersting said.
The body of what is believed to have been the Lord's wife was buried next to him.
"She had a coin in her mouth in accordance with the ancient rite to pay the ferryman for the passage over the Styx into the realm of the dead," Kersting said.
