The mystery of the 1,300-year-old remains of the 'grave robber'

The young man may not have been a thief as initially suspected, but was placed in a crypt to hide his crime.

The man was murdered by a series of cuts both in the front and the back. Photo: Qian Wang

The remains of a 25-year-old man discovered in a basement leading to an ancient tomb in Ninh Ha are most likely not a tomb robber, Live Science reported on November 2. When the remains were first discovered about 10 years ago, scientists suspected the person died while trying to loot. However, according to new research published in the journal Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences, this person may have been murdered and his body hidden in the tunnel above the tomb to hide the crime.

The team of experts used carbon isotope dating to determine that the man who was killed lived in the 7th century, while the remains of those buried in the grave were up to 2,000 years old. They also discovered injuries showing that this person had been slashed multiple times in both the front and back. A sword, most likely the murder weapon, was found near the victim.

“The case shows that the strategy of hiding victims’ bodies in tombs or cemeteries, like ‘hiding leaves in the forest’, has been practiced since ancient times,” the research team wrote.

The 2,000-year-old mausoleum is located in an ancient cemetery discovered by construction workers while installing gas pipes. Then, archaeologists conducted excavations in 2009 and 2011.

The mausoleum holds three sets of remains including an adult man, an adult woman and a juvenile of unknown gender. Most likely this is a family. Based on the large size of the mausoleum with a burial space of 18 square meters, it is likely that they were very wealthy. “The people in the graves had high social status,” said Qian Wang, a professor of biomedical sciences at Texas A&M University School of Dentistry and lead author of the study.

3D images simulate the tombs and vertical tunnels of thieves. Photo: Qian Wang

Most of the items in the tomb were stolen in ancient times. “The burial items must have been very rich to lead to such a large-scale theft, as evidenced by the fact that the thieves’ tunnel was very large,” Wang said.

Archaeologists sometimes find the remains of people who died accidentally while trying to rob graves. However, the research team believes that the assassination victim was not among them. “We concluded quite firmly that the victim was not an original member of the group of thieves due to the natural accumulation of mulch in the burglary vault and the victim was found about 4.5 m above the foundation of the burial chamber. Article This means the incident happened a very long time after the theft,” Wang said.

The research team is not sure why the 25-year-old man was murdered. The fact that the cuts were on both the front and back shows that the victim may have been attacked by multiple people. The expert group believes that this person was killed near or inside the cemetery, but cannot draw an exact conclusion.