Wolf Skull Found Left On Ancient Grave Was To Fend Off Vengeful Spirits

The discovery of the skull and the mound it was placed on are unique for the region where it was found.

Published June 16, 2023


Image credit: B. S. Szmoniewski

Ancient grave robbers placed the skull of a wolf on a burial mound to protect them from the deceased's ghost. We don't know who was buried in the mound, but their remains represent a unique find in this part of Romania.

Around 2,000 years ago, grave robbers placed the skull of a wolf on top of a burial mound in an attempt to prevent the deceased's angry spirit from seeking revenge. Now this strange sentinel has been unearthed along with the surrounding tomb, and is revealing new insights into those it was set to guard.

The barrow itself is largely invisible to the casual observer; it is located in a now heavily cultivated field on the outskirts of Cheia, a small village in southeast Romania. The area has been of archaeological interest since 2008, but geophysical research conducted in 2022 identified a 75-meter (246-foot) diameter tomb complete with two graves, buried below the surface.

One of the graves, located in the center of the mound, had a hole dug out where the body of the deceased was cremated within a wooden box, along with all their grave goods. The evidence for this being an onsite cremation is clear within the pit itself. Not only do the walls and the bottom show signs of heat, but there are also partially burnt pieces of a wooden structure left behind, along with nails and bronze fittings that would have decorated it. Although, there was very little left of the cremated skeleton itself.

After the individual was cremated, wooden planks were placed on top of the hole before the grave was filled in. According to a statement made by Dr. Bartłomiej Szymon Szmoniewski from the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnology of the Polish Academy of Sciences, other barrows demonstrating similar cremation practices have been discovered in the town of Hârșova, “known in the Roman period as Carsium on the lower Danube.”
In addition to these cremation fragments, the team also discovered a large number of burnt walnut seeds that had been preserved in their shells, as well as the remains of several pine cones and other plants.

 

Fire-damaged walnut seeds like this, recovered from the site, indicate that a cremation took place.
Image credit: B. S. Szmoniewski


“The presence of burnt walnut seeds in the presented burial is an interesting custom known from cremation graves from the early Roman period,” Szmoniewski said. “Walnuts in the sepulchral context are interpreted as a kind of grave gift – special food for the soul. In the Casimcea river valley in Dobruja, where we are conducting research, this is the first find of its kind."

At some point during antiquity the grave was robbed, and although the thieves did not manage to steal everything left in the mound, they nevertheless left a wolf’s skull on a pile of stones that closed their robbery hole. According to Szmoniewski, this was “probably a kind of ritual and magical operation aimed at closing the looted space in order to prevent exit and possible revenge from the plundered spirit.”

“The unusual find of a wolf's skull at the exit of a robbery ditch […] may indicate that the theft was made by the Getae – a people who inhabited this area before the appearance of the Greeks and Romans," Szmoniewski added. However, the researcher believes that those buried in the graves were likely Romans who arrived in the area during Roman colonization.

A second grave was discovered in the barrow, but some distance from its center. In it, archaeologists discovered a skeleton that had been buried in a wooden structure, probably a coffin, as fragments of wood were found both above and below the remains. The skeleton had been buried with a unguentarium, a small rounded glass vessel with a long neck that was used to store perfume or cosmetics. The deceased’s jaw was found to have a bronze coin placed in it, which was issued in the reign of Hadrian (around 125-127 CE).

“The coin in the mouth of the buried refers to the ancient custom of Charon's obol, when a coin inserted into the mouth was to be used as payment to Charon for transporting the deceased's soul across the River Styx in Hades," Szmoniewski explained.

The burials in this barrow date to the middle of the second century CE and represent the first of their kind to be discovered in this region. Szmoniewski and the team are hopeful to find more like it in the future.