A vampire from Pnia with no secrets. Research revealed the terrible truth
A sickle around the neck and a padlock on the big toe – this is how a mysterious woman from the area of Dąbrowa Chełmińska was buried. The bodies discovered a few years ago were thoroughly examined. Now scientists are boasting about results that may be surprising.
“The Vampire from Pień” – this is what the body of a woman found in the town of Pień was called due to the elements found around it, located in the central part of the Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship. Researchers from the Institute of Archeology of the Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń were involved in the reconstruction as part of the Pień Project. The Toruń Educational Association “Ewolucja” also supervised the research project. What was hiding the woman who recently began to be called “Zosia”?
A unique reconstruction
The research carried out yielded a whole host of different results. In Poland, among other things, a 3D model of her skull was made, based on which a reconstruction of the woman’s supposed appearance was created. Unfortunately, her life was not easy. As the analyzes showed, she suffered from hemangioma – cancer in the body of the sternum, which could cause pain and even contribute to body deformation in the form of a tumor visible on the chest – explains the website Naukawpolsce.pl
But that’s not all. According to data provided by the Toruń association, the woman could have been of Scandinavian origin. Her body was buried in a 17th-century grave with a sickle around her neck and a triangular lock on the toe of her left foot. These were typically anti-vampire items, meaning they protected against returning from the world of the dead to the world of the living. The bodies were found by archaeologists from the Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń in 2022.
She also expanded the presentation of the collected information reconstruction of a woman’s face, made by the world-famous archaeologist and sculptor, Oscar Nilsson. Scientists plan further work on both the analysis of the young woman’s skeleton and field work on other graves in Trunk. This year, tests were already carried out there using ultraviolet lamps to identify bone remains on the surface. Field research is planned for next year.
