The teeth may have belonged to wolves, dogs, and bears, with two even resembling human canine teeth. A necklace made from teeth dating back more than 5,000 years has been unearthed in southern Poland. Researchers said that the bizarre decoration consists of 42 teeth which may have belonged to wolves, dogs, and bears, with two of the identified teeth even resembling human canine teeth. The discovery was made during excavation work at a burial mound near the village of Żórawina. Researchers from the Medical University of Wrocław said they were preparing to leave the site when they spotted an oddity. “We were practically starting to pack up when we noticed the outline of a grave, and inside it were teeth arranged in the shape of a necklace,” Dr. Paweł Dąbrowski, a researcher working at the site, said. “From the very first look, it was clear that this could not have been accidental,” Dąbrowski said, adding that further examination showed that every tooth had a hole drilled through its root. “Although the string or cord connecting them has not survived, there is no doubt that this was an ornament made by human hands,” he said. Unknown origin Dąbrowski said the teeth may have belonged to wolves, dogs, and bears, with two of the identified teeth even resembling human canine teeth. “Bear incisors are very similar to human front teeth. However, only a detailed dental analysis will allow us to determine with certainty the origin of the teeth in the necklace,” he was quoted as saying by the Polish edition of National Geographic. The artifact was found this summer inside a burial mound during excavations near the village of Żórawina, the Medical University of Wrocław, whose researchers are taking part in the work, said in a social media post on Wednesday. Inside the mound, archaeologists also found the nearly complete skeleton of a man, fragments of two skulls, bone and amber beads, a flint blade, and a stone battle axe. The shape of the battle axe allowed researchers to estimate the age of the burial at around 2900 B.C., making it the oldest discovery at the site. The rest of the cemetery at this site had previously been dated to roughly 1,600 years ago — around A.D. 350 to 430 — meaning the newly found mound is several thousand years older than the other burials uncovered there. Researchers now estimate that the burial mound belonged to a member of the Corded Ware culture, an ancient European society that existed roughly between 2900 and 2300 B.C. and is known for its distinctive cord-patterned pottery and pastoral way of life. Research into the origin of the artifacts found at the site is still ongoing. Scientists hope the results will help answer questions about who was buried there and what life was like for the community that lived in what is now Lower Silesia more than 5,000 years ago.
