Tree rings of Princess of Bagicz wooden coffin resolve date dispute
A new study of the only complete wooden coffin from the Roman Iron Age, the Princess of Bagicz burial, has solved the debate about its age and revealed fresh information about the deceased.The coffin was discovered near the village of Bagicz, northwestern Poland, in 1899 when it was literally fell out of a cliff on the Baltic Sea coast, exposed by erosion. It held the remains of an adult woman buried with a bronze fibula, a bone pin, a pair of bronze bracelets and a necklace of glass and amber beads. The burial had been preserved for almost 2,000 years in the low-oxygen waterlogged sandy soil. In addition to the coffin, organic materials including a wooden stool and fragments of woolen clothing and bovine hide had survived in excellent condition. Unfortunately, those elements did not survive the Second World War.Because of her fine grave goods and the location of the burial in an isolated location overlooking the ocean, at the time she was believed to be someone of extremely high social status, earning her the monicker the Princess of Bagicz. Later discoveries nearby revealed that in fact her burial was part of a larger Iron Age cemetery, so she wasnt quite at the princess level of elite, although certainly a wealthy woman.The coffin and its lid were made from a hollowed-out oak trunk, a burial style typical of the Iron Age Wielbark culture (1st-4th centuries A.D.). Only traces of the original log coffins are found in these burials, making the Princess a unique survivor from the Roman Iron Age in Poland.The burial has been extensively studied since its discovery. Today about 30 bones, including her skull, survive, blackened from centuries spent in her log coffin. Osteological analysis found she was between 25 and 30 years old when she died and petite at about 145 cm (49) tall. Despite her young age, she suffered from osteoarthritis in the lower spine, suggesting she performed hard manual labor.The question of the dating of the burial has been debated in the scholarship for decades. A 2018 radiocarbon analysis returned an approximate date range of 160 B.C. to 50 A.D., which is significantly earlier than the date suggested by the artifacts in her grave, ca. 110-160 A.D. Researchers in that investigation hypothesized that the discrepancy may have been caused by a mistake in the C14 measurements that can sometimes occur when the deceased at a diet rich in fish. Stable isotope analysis of her teeth found no trace of Baltic fish, just a variety of animal proteins that could have included freshwater fish.To better understand the dating discrepancies, a dendrochronological analysis was conducted in 2024. The results revealed the oak tree from which her coffin was fashioned had been felled around 120 AD (78 years). This indicates that the archaeological typological dating was closer in accuracy than the radiocarbon dating.The researchers hypothesize that diet or environmental factors, including the reservoir effect, the hard-water effect, or both, may have influenced the radiocarbon dates.The reservoir effect caused by organisms consuming fish or water food sources which have lower C14 levels than the atmosphere. It can result in false aging, making the material seem older than it is. The hard water effect consumption of organisms that live in hard water causing artificially aged C14 results could have had a similar impact. However, this possible explanation for the radiocarbon dates is contradicted by the research teams strontium isotope analysis results. They found her likely place of origin was land, Sweden, but there is no reservoir effect documented in archaeological remains of the area.The results of the study have been published in the journal Archaeometry, available here to subscribers or pay-for-play.
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