State Office for the Preservation of Monuments in the Regional Council of Stuttgart/ F DammingerThe decapitation of the horse was likely part of a burial ceremony Amid a medieval burial site of around 100 graves in Germany archeologists came across a surprising discovery The owner “stood in a ‘chain of command’ with the Merovingian kings on its top, which meant he was obliged to participate in the king’s campaigns,” explained Folke Damminger of the Stuttgart Regional Council’s State Office for Monument Preservation Though the man probably oversaw a farming household he likely didn’t do any farming himself That task was presumably left to servants under his command It’s not entirely clear why he was buried near his horse Damminger speculated that “most probably the decapitation [of the horse] was part of the burial ceremony.” The man’s family would have wanted to preserve their loved one’s social status in death “One function of this ceremony was the ‘staging’ of the deceased in his former status and wealth as a claim of his successors to maintain this status,” he explained the horse was likely not part of a sacrificial ritual it was a “grave good” meant to reflect his elevated social standing Folke Damminger/Baden-Wuerttemberg State Office for Monument Preservation in the Stuttgart Government Presidium The remains of the horse’s owner It’s not unheard of, though rare, to find horses buried with their owners in medieval graves. The “funerals of animals, especially of individual horses, are well known from many grave fields of the Early Middle Ages,” explained German archaeologist Claus Ahrens in 1975 an archeological dig in the German town of Wulfsen in 1974 uncovered 35 human burials But the decapitated horse — its head remains missing — is just one of several incredible finds unearthed at the medieval burial site in Knittlingen First discovered in 1920 during the construction of a never-completed narrow-gauge railway Some graves are simple; others are elaborately designed wooden chambers Though some of the graves have been targeted by thieves “Despite their fragmentation as a result of ancient robbery, the finds provide indications of the social status of the dead,” remarked Damminger he and other archeologists have recovered a number of compelling objects And in graves belonging to women and girls One woman’s grave even contained a “gold disc brooch” which was fashionable in the 7th century Folke Damminger/Baden-Wuerttemberg State Office for Monument Preservation in the Stuttgart Government Presidium This object was found in the grave of a young woman at the site Both sets of graves — regardless of sex and age — contained ceramic vessels which contained traces of animal bones and eggshells These were likely offerings to the deceased graves of a slightly later date appear more modest According to a press release about the discovery: “It is not known whether this is due to reduced prosperity or a different staging of the burials of the local elite.” Folke Damminger and his team will continue to examine the skeletons they’ve recovered including those of the rider and his horse They’ll study the goods in his grave in hopes of learning more about how he lived and died This Merovingian loved his horse — so much that his family decided to send it to the afterlife alongside him After reading about the headless horse found in Germany, learn about the Iron age chariot, horse, and rider found buried in England. Or, discover the story of the 40,000-year-old horse preserved in Siberian permafrost. Archaeologists don't know why the horse was decapitated The skeletal remains of a man buried 1,400 years ago near a headless horse have been discovered at an ancient cemetery in the town of Knittlingen in southern Germany He likely was the horse's owner/rider when he was alive.  The man was buried at a time when the Merovingian dynasty (A.D ruling a giant swath of territory in what is now France and Central Europe.  "He stood in a 'chain of command' with the Merovingian kings on its top which meant he was obliged to participate in the king's campaigns," Folke Damminger an archaeologist in charge of research at the site Related: Photos: A man, a horse and a dog found in Viking boat burial  Part of the ancient cemetery that is currently being excavated is shown in this aerial image (Image credit: State Office for the Preservation of Monuments in the Regional Council of Stuttgart/ Image: ArchaeoBW)This gold brooch was found buried next to a woman who was buried not far from the rider with headless horse The relationship between this woman and the rider is not clear.(Image credit: State Office for the Preservation of Monuments in the Regional Council of Stuttgart/ A he most probably was the head of a farming household consisting of his family and his servants," Damminger said the man was not a farmer in a strict sense as other workers may have done much of the actual farming Why exactly he was buried near a headless horse is not clear but "most probably the decapitation [of the horse] was part of the burial ceremony," Damminger told Live Science The horse may have been placed near its owner as a 'grave good' for the afterlife rather than a sacrifice The horse's head has not been found so far.  His family members would have wanted to portray him as a wealthy and important individual so that they could benefit from his status "One function of this ceremony was the 'staging' of the deceased in his former status and wealth as a claim of his successors to maintain this status," Damminger said.  Get the world’s most fascinating discoveries delivered straight to your inbox The archaeologists discovered the remains of several other people, who lived at around the same time as this rider, within the same cemetery. Some of them were buried with wealthy grave goods, such as a woman interred with a gold brooch Some of the men were buried with weapons such as swords —Photos: 1,700-year-old sculptures discovered in ancient shrine  —Ancient, gold-lined tombs that may hold princesses discovered in Greece —Photos: Ancient burial of elite members of nomadic tribe  The researchers will continue to investigate the headless horse burial and to excavate other burials at the cemetery Damminger said that the team is in the process of excavating and restoring the mysterious man's grave goods and future anthropological work of the man's bones and teeth will be done to learn about his health why he died and how old he was when he perished.  Damminger works for Stuttgart Regional Council's State Office for Monument Preservation Much of the excavation work is being carried by archaeologists from the cultural resource management firm ArchaeoBW.  Owen JarusSocial Links NavigationLive Science ContributorOwen Jarus is a regular contributor to Live Science who writes about archaeology and humans' past He has also written for The Independent (UK) The Canadian Press (CP) and The Associated Press (AP) Owen has a bachelor of arts degree from the University of Toronto and a journalism degree from Ryerson University.  Ancient Egyptians drew the Milky Way on coffins and tombs Amateur astronomer captures detailed photos of Croc's Eye and Whirlpool galaxies from backyard observatory Medievalists.net Archaeologists in Germany have discovered 110 graves dating back to the sixth and seventh centuries Their finds include gold and bronze objects The early medieval burials were found in the city of Knittlingen Previous finds were made here in 1920 and 1984 and new research began in August of 2020 as part of a new residential development Most of the 110 graves were buried in rows but some of the elite individuals were buried in a circular pit The grave structures ranged from simple burials to wooden grave chambers – only the last bits of wood were preserved Some of the deceased were buried in wooden coffins The people of the Knittlinger settlement were buried in their traditional costumes according to the early medieval custom Although the burials were often robbed in the early Middle Ages numerous non-organic jewelry components such as pearl necklaces earrings and arm rings as well as belt hangers with decorative discs and everyday items such as knives and combs were recovered from the graves of women and girls shields and arrowheads) came from the male burials Ceramic vessels and bronze bowls were also added to the graves of both men and women which probably contained food – in them were found animal bones and eggshells “Despite their fragmentation due to the ancient robbery the finds give indications of the social status of the dead,” explains Folke Damminger The burials from the second half of the sixth century include a woman with am almost complete fibula outfits typical of its time A gold disc brooch worn individually from a somewhat younger grave heralds the fashion of the seventh century Some of the men’s graves identified the deceased as cavalrymen A decapitated horse was buried in the vicinity of one of these burials The accessory ensembles of the late seventh century It is not known whether this is due to a decline in prosperity or to a change in the staging of the funerals of the local elites “As was to be expected due to the location of Knittlingen in a fertile landscape of old settlements the investigations also revealed individual prehistoric “The few ceramic fragments that have been recovered point to a Neolithic period The archaeological research is being carried by the State Office for Monument Preservation (LAD) in the Stuttgart Regional Council with ArchaeoBW The skeletons as well as the other finds are recovered and brought to the central archive in Rastatt The excavation is scheduled to be completed in the spring of 2022 Photo courtesy State Office for 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Please refer to our privacy policy to find out how we use cookies and how you can edit your preferences A fragmentary but poignant insight into the spare moments of nineteenth-century Wisconsin homesteaders has been discovered at Fort McCoy a United States Army installation about 90 miles northwest of Madison Archaeologists unearthed four pieces of a German-made harmonica among more than 2,000 artifacts from what appears to have been a communal dumping ground in the area One of the harmonica’s exterior plates reads “Friedr Hotz,” indicating that it was made by the Friedrich Hotz Company the company began producing harmonicas in the 1820s and was eventually bought out by Matthias Hohner who introduced the instrument to America in 1862 “The leisure-related items from the site represent a small portion of the assemblage,” says Colorado State University archaeologist Tyler Olsen “This probably reflects the proportion of any given day that could be devoted to recreation in some small way.”