Ritual Burials in a Prehistoric Mining Shaft in the Krumlov Forest (Czechia)

Abstract The Krumlov Forest (Czechia) revealed one of the largest chert mining fields in Europe, dated from the Mesolithic to the Hallstatt period. The largest shafts of the Late Lengyel culture were located on a slope below a re-deposited boulder. Shaft No. 4 yielded two skeletons of females; the lower one had a newborn placed on her breasts. Both females were found to be the shortest of the then population as a whole; they were weak, diseased and poorly fed during their childhood. By contrast, as adults they were fed with meat and carried out heavy work, which is corroborated by marked muscle attachments and vertebral degeneration. Genetic analysis proved that both females were relatives. In order to complete the story of these women, the conclusions mentioned were supplemented with an anthropological reconstruction of their appearance.