The exceptional find of a Bronze Age votive bog offering of millet accompanied by a human sacrifice. Or was it the other way around?

doi:10.21203/rs.3.rs-4442235/v1

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The exceptional find of a Bronze Age votive bog offering of millet accompanied by a human sacrifice. Or was it the other way around?

https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-4442235/v1

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The first discovery of prehistoric human remains at the same wetland as millet plants (Panicum miliaceum), which is reported here for the Zahájí site in the Czech Republic, sheds curiously new light on the central European Middle Bronze Age. The millet and a human fingernail (both dated ca. 1400–1300 BC) were found in what was possibly a newly formed shallow lake in a small brook valley located in a fertile and continuously populated region. Their joint presence in the same layer does not appear accidental. Although a wealth of contextual information has been gleaned from multi-proxy investigations (such as sediment lithostratigraphy, geo and water chemistry, pollen, plant macrofossils, aquatic invertebrae and organic residua analyses, and aDNA of millet and the fingernail), archaeological interpretation of the find is still highly challenging. We present some possible scenarios for what might have happened, with ritual behaviour (in the sense of sacrifice or offering) being high on the list of probabilities. The find may also be related to reverence for the millet plant, a crop that had only recently become established in central Europe around the mid-2nd millennium BC following its rapid westward migration from southeastern Asia.

bog bodies

Panicum miliaceum

palaeoecology

lake sediments

ritual behaviour

central Europe

Broomcorn millet (Panicum miliaceum L.) appeared in Europe after its rapid migration from southeastern Asia in the second half of the 2nd millennium BC and quickly became a staple crop in many regions. As such, it has recently received close attention from many scholars (e.g. Filipović et al., 2020; del Corso et al., 2022). We recently made a revision of the twenty-year-old palaeoecological research of the Zahájí bog-swamp in central Bohemia, Czech Republic (Pokorný et al., 2015). At the site, a layer of uncharred millet grains, stems and roots was discovered at a depth of 4.5m below the present surface (the full depth of the profile is 8.2m and it spans the last 9,000 years; Pokorný et al., 2015). During the revision drilling in 2021, we found a human nail at the same layer in one of the boreholes. Radiocarbon dating of the nail and millet confirmed an almost identical age at ca. 1400–1300BC. This represents one of the earliest dates for the appearance of millet in central Europe (Filipović et al., 2020).

Bogs have held special meanings for people throughout history. In Indo-European mythology wetlands were associated with the gods of the underworld, the ghosts of the dead (Modzelewski, 2006). Finds of human remains in bogs – so-called bog bodies (both mummies and skeletal remains) – are among the best known and most enigmatic finds from European prehistory, often those associated with cults, rituals and mystery. There are currently 266 known sites and more than 1,000 bog mummies (or their parts), almost exclusively situated in northwestern and north-central Europe and the eastern Baltic (van Beek et al., 2022). The southern limit of such findings lies in Lower Saxony, although peatlands are also extensive further south in Germany. Eisenbeiss (2016) suggests that cultural traditions, including the reasons that corpses were deposited in bogs, might have differed from one region to another and over time. Van Beek et al. (2022) divided occurrences of these finds in (northern) Europe into six phases, between which there are marked differences. For example, traces of violent death are most frequent in phase 2 (5200–2800BC) and phase 6 (AD1100–1900); on the contrary, phase 4 (1600–1000BC), to which our finding belongs, has only one example of violent death from what is overall the smallest set of 12 findings (9 skeletal remains and 3 mummies: 4 males, 4 females, and 4 undifferentiated; Fig. 1).

Deposits of artefacts in peat bogs were first found during peat digging or cutting as early as the 18th and 19th centuries in southern Sweden (Larson, 2006). As wetlands are generally considered an auspicious site for contacting the spiritual world, artefacts are usually to be taken as offerings in a votive ritual. In addition to artefacts, food products are frequently found within the bogs. The most abundant of these is so-called bog butter, which was deposited in bogs in various types of containers from the Early Bronze Age until the 1800s; there was also a rich tradition of using butter in fertility ceremonies (Giles, 2020). For butter, cheese and meat, bogs eventually served as a larder.

Our finding is the first known deposition of broomcorn millet in a bog, as well as the first known co-occurrence of cereals and a human remain in such a context. Furthermore, the recovered human remains are over 500 kilometres away from the closest known bog bodies within this time window (phase 4 according to van Beek et al., 2022) in Lower Saxony (Fig. 1).

In this paper, we address the following research questions. The first concerns the environment of the site at the time of the millet deposition, and whether the millet was deposited in water or in the firmer material of the swamp. Next, we ask whether the entire body, and not just a small remnant of it, ended up in the swamp; this finding is crucial to understanding the discovery from an archaeological perspective. Finally, we question if the fingernail and millet find could be related to one another, for example, in the sense of sacrifice or offering, in the way that bog finds are typically understood.

2.1. Environmental background

The Zahájí site is situated in a lowland area of the lower Ohře River in northern Bohemia, Czech Republic (50°22′44″N, 14°07′04″E, 200 m a.s.l.), ca. 40km NW of the city of Prague (Fig. 1). It lies in the source area of Podbradecký potok (Podbradecký Brook), a tributary of the Ohře River, which is sharply incised into the bedrock forming a canyon-like valley 200–400m wide and up to 35m deep (Figs. 2–4). The bedrock is formed of Cretaceous sandstones with layers of calcareous claystones and marls and covered by loess on the surrounding vast plateaus.

The valley of the Podbradecký potok is fed by several springs which discharge from the slopes of the canyon or as artesian springs from the bottom of the valley. The discharged water is strongly enriched with iron and sulphur (Pokorný et al., 2015; Herrmann and Kůrková, 2016).

At present, the study site is covered by sparse swamp forest (dominated by Alnus glutinosa and Fraxinus excelsior), sedges and reeds. The present climate is relatively warm, dry, and continental (mean annual temperature 8.3°C, annual precipitation 496mm), because of its low elevation (190 m a.s.l.) and its position in an orographic rain shadow of the Krušné hory (Ore Mountains).

2.1. Archaeological background

The Middle Bronze Age (MBA), which encompasses our findings from the Zahájí site, was a period of extensive changes over a large area of Europe that resulted in a relatively unified archaeological manifestation coherent in both the artefactual and ideological spheres. This is evident, for example, in the similar funerary ritual of building barrows, such as in the Tumulus culture (ca. 1600–1250BC), and present in the territory of what is now Bohemia (Jiráň (ed.), 2013).

Compared to the preceding Únětice culture of the Early Bronze Age and the following Urnfield culture of the Late Bronze Age, settlement density and habitation stability are apparently lower (Dreslerová and Demján, 2019). The effect of reduced archaeological visibility in this period – from which (seemingly) only a small number of settlements have survived and been investigated – cannot, however, be ruled out (Jiráň (ed.), 2013).

Nevertheless, this is not the case in the vicinity of the Zahájí site, where fertile soils perfectly suited to agriculture allowed for a long-term, continuous, and relatively steady settlement pattern, starting in the Early Bronze Age, and continuing well into the Iron Age. Several significant concentrations of settlement sites situated north (0.5km) and south (1.5km) of our study site are of comparable age with the swamp finds (Dreslerová and Demján, 2019). A possible burial area lies on the opposite valley ridge, where several burial mounds are preserved (Fig. 2). Arable agriculture and animal husbandry seem to have been the main subsistence strategy in the MBA. Triticum monococcum, T. dicoccum and Hordeum vulgare were cultivated, along with legumes (Dreslerová and Kočár, 2013). Panicum miliaceum arrived in central Europe in this period; evidence from the Zahájí site is among the earliest (Filipović et al., 2020).

3.1. Subsurface morphology of the study site, sediment coring, and radiocarbon dating

The Zahájí site was surveyed in 1999, 2004, 2021, and 2022. The position of the boreholes is shown in Fig. 5 and a description of the relevant analyses is provided in Table 1. In 2022, the valley floor was surveyed using electrical resistivity tomography (ERT) (for more detail on this method, see Supplementary material, S1.) and hand-operated corers (coring chamber diameter of 2.5cm) in a transect across the valley. A total of 21 boreholes were documented, and lithologically significant horizons were sampled for environmental analyses.

Based on drilling and ERT profiling, the valley floor has an irregular surface; it slopes gently towards the NW. The organic deposits reach a maximum thickness of 8.6m in the central difference in elevation between the bottom at the SE and NW edges is approx. 4.5m. The organic deposits reach a maximum thickness of 8.6m in the central part of the valley, where a channel-like structure parallel to the valley axis was identified. This represents the former stream channel, which folded towards the NW wall of the canyon during the Holocene.

Table 1. Zahájí. Overview of documentation points (cores) from Fig. 5.

AMS radiocarbon dating of 37 organic samples was performed in laboratories in Poznań (Poz), Erlangen (Erl), and Prague (CRL) (Table 2, Table 3). The OxCal 4.4 calibration programme was used to determine sample ages along with the IntCal20 calibration curve for Northern Hemisphere terrestrial samples (Bronk Ramsey, 2009; Reimer et al., 2020).

Table 2. Zahájí. Radiocarbon dates from multiple cores. Calibrated in OxCal 4.4 software using IntCal20 (Bronk Ramsey, 2009; Reimer et al., 2020).

Fig. 5. Plan of the Zahájí site. Left: position of the lithostratigraphical cross-section (black crosses) and the ERT profile (red line; see Fig. 6). Right: detail of the Podbradecký potok valley floor showing coring and sampling sites. Red cross – position of the fingernail finding; black crosses – cores ZA 2–17 for lithostratigraphical and morphological analyses and for survey on millet macroremains (see Table 1); yellow square – original pit from 1999; purple ellipse – assumed area of millet spread; ZAH – position of the profiles ZAH 2004, ZAH 2015, ZAH A–C (see Table 1); A – organic-rich surface sediment sample; B – sample for water chemistry; C – Fe-rich surface sediment sample.

Table 3. Zahájí. Radiocarbon dates from millet grains and the human nail (ZAH A–C and ZA1 cores). Calibrated in OxCal 4.4 software using IntCal20 (Bronk Ramsey, 2009; Reimer et al., 2020). R_combine = combination of all measurements of millet.

lab code	material	BP	±	BC from	BC to	%
CRL 20_215	millet grain	3136	18	1491	1316	95.4
CRL 20_216	millet grain	3096	18	1423	1295	95.4
CRL 20_309	millet grain	3098	23	1426	1291	95.4
ETH-107373	millet grain	3103	23	1430	1292	95.4
UA3216	millet grain	3122	30	1493	1293	95.4
Poz-29572	millet grain	3140	40	1502	1296	95.4
R_combine	millet grains	3113	10	1428	1311	95.4
CRL 20_308A	nail	3045	44	1419	1197	95.4
CRL 20_308B	nail	3096	24	1425	1287	95.4

3.2. Sediment lithostratigraphy, geochemistry, and micromorphology

Three major lithological horizons (LH_1, LH_2, LH_3) can be distinguished in the laterally heterogeneous sedimentary record of the swamp (Fig. 6). LH_1 (ca. 1100BC–recent) is composed of brown to black woody peat with variable admixtures of clay and sand which form irregular layers up to several centimetres thick. Sediments are dominated by silicates (SiO₂, TiO₂, Na₂O, K₂O), which make up about 80% of dry sediment content. The organic carbon content is relatively low and falls with the range 7–23%. The maximum sulphur content measured is around 10%. LH_2 (ca. 1600–1100BC) consists of a light grey clay and locally fine-grained sandy clays alternating with mossy layers. Fe₂O₃ and Al₂O₃ contents reach extremely high values of 40–60% and are accompanied by enormously increased sulphur concentrations (up to 14%). This horizon contains very abundant iron and alum (potassium-aluminium sulphate) concretions several centimetres across, which formed here as a result of the geochemistry of the environment. According to the results of an XRD analysis, the concretions are formed of goethite (α-Fe₃+O(OH)) and basaluminite (=felsőbányaite;Al₄(SO₄) (OH)10·4H₂O). At the base of sequence LH_2, the alum coupled with the high iron concentrations form a mechanically resistant encrustation(for a more detailed description of the base of LH_2, where the millet layer and the fingernail were discovered, see Fig. 6). The sequence LH_3 (ca. 7300–1600BC) is characterized by a dark brown to black mushy peat with frequent deposits of red to yellow-red clay 5–25cm thick, alternating with layers of sand and gravel and abundant Fe/Al concretions. The number of mineral clasts increases towards the base to form more substantial accumulations at the bottom. Like LH_2, Fe₂O₃ and Al₂O₃ contents are high (up to 72% and 21% respectively), but the sulphur content is low (3–4%) and the organic carbon content is relatively high (~15–20%).

The basal part of LH_2, represented by the cores ZAH B and ZAH C, was analysed for chemical composition and micromorphology, which confirmed the unusual sediment chemistry, including the presence of goethite and basaluminite. These two minerals precipitate under oxic, low-pH conditions (for more detail, see Supplementary material, S1).

Fig. 6. Zahájí. (A) Results of electrical resistivity tomography; (B) Stratigraphical cross-section of the valley of the Podbradecký Brook.

3.3. Paleobotanical record and reconstruction of the vegetation cover

The preservation of organic remains is excellent across the entire swamp as a result of the acidic conditions and the high content of basaluminite, a compound that prevents the biological degradation of organic materials (Pokorný et al., 2010). The unusual chemical composition also accounts for the fact that the deposit is exceptionally thick and demonstrably without any stratigraphic hiatuses, providing a fossil record that is unique for the otherwise dry lowlands of central Europe.

The first fieldwork at the Zahájí site started 25 years ago with a pollen profile from 1999 (here, ZAH 2004). In 2008, a second profile (here, ZAH2015) was drilled from the bottom of a pit originally hand dug in 1999 and which reached a depth of 2.0m. Reference cores ZAH A–C and ZH 1–17 from 2021 were drilled to a depth of 5.0m by a piston corer (coring chamber diameter of 5.0cm and length of 1.0m). ZAH A–C were drilled immediately adjacent to the two original profiles, also from the bottom of the hand-dug pit. An additional drilling was carried out in the immediate vicinity of ZAH A–C to recover enough millet for the analysis (Fig. 5). To provide enough material, two parallel cores, ZAH B and ZAH C, were wet-sieved and analysed for plant macrofossils. Both cores were correlated visually according to prominent lithological horizons. A description of the laboratory work and the data are appended in Supplementary material, S2.

The plant macrofossil diagram (Fig. 7) clearly shows the position of millet (Panicum miliaceum) grains, rachis, stems and roots within the investigated core section. They occur in association with local vegetation: the remains of birches (Betula sect. albae), sedges (Carex), and, importantly, Potamogeton, all of which provide evidence of a local aquatic environment, most likely, given the combination of taxa detected, a very small pool of shallow water.

The pollen diagram (Fig. 8) is in full agreement with these findings (see Potamogeton, Cyperaceae, and Hordeum-type – the pollen taxon that includes pollen grains of both Hordeum and Panicum). In the vegetation signal captured by pollen analysis, evidence of cereal cultivation is exceptionally strong across the whole section. Even Secale cereale (rye), then presumably only a cereal weed rather than an intentionally cultivated crop (Behre, 1992), is present in large quantities. Grazing was also important in the same period, as evidenced by the persistent presence of Plantago lanceolata and Rumex acetosa-type pollen. The composition of forest stands is not subject to significant change in this short time period.

Fig. 7. Zahájí site. Diagram showing plant macrofossil stratigraphy obtained for the ZAH B and ZAH C cores. The X-axes scales show absolute numbers of finds in 25cm³ of sediment.

3.4. Analysis of past and modern aquatic fauna

Some 26 sediment samples from the ZAH B core were taken in 2.0cm steps from the depth interval 419–471cm for analysis of the subfossil remains of aquatic invertebrates (insects, cladocerans, and bryozoans). For more detail regarding the extraction, quantification, and identification of the remains, see the Supplementary material, S3.

Two modern sediment samples for zoological analysis and two water samples (one for analysis of planktonic fauna and one for pH and conductivity) were collected from the current wetland as reference samples up to 10.0m from the ZAH coring site, i.e., outside the channel of the current brook (Fig. 4; Table 1). The waterlogged surface with very slow running water in the middle of the brook valley is patchy, with two distinct sediment types: one with a striking red colour (assumed to reflect high iron content), and the other with a dark colour and a high organic content. The iron concentration in the first sample was measured by an XRF device (Vanta, Olympus). In addition, a reference surface (0.0–1.0cm) sediment sample and water samples for pH, conductivity, and planktonic fauna were taken in 2022 from Kamencové jezero (Kamencové Lake, 50.472° N, 13.425° E), a strongly acidic post-mining lake with uniquely high concentrations of dissociated potassium alum (Hrdinka, 2012). Live aquatic invertebrates were extracted from all sediment samples using 500µm, 100µm and 40µm sieves and later manually picked and identified under a dissecting optical microscope. For characterization of the water samples, we used a laboratory pH-meter (SevenCompact pH meter, Mettler–Toledo) and a conductometer (Seven2Go Cond meter, Mettler–Toledo).

A section of the ZAH B core (52cm long) around the millet layer revealed two distinct faunal biozones (Fig. 9). The older biozone (471–451cm) is characterized by rare findings of aquatic invertebrate remains. Within this biozone, chironomid head capsule (HC) concentrations are lower than 6 HCs per 1cm³, concentrations of other insect groups are lower than 3 individuals per 1cm³, and concentrations cladoceran remains are lower than 10 per sample. The taxonomic composition indicates the presence of a very shallow and likely ephemeral shallow pond (or several small ponds) at the bottom of the Podbradecký Brook valley. Specifically, the environment of the very shallow lentic water body is indicated by the presence of inhabitants of lentic waters such as chironomids of the genus Chironomus and the cladoceran species Chydorus sphaericus. Other taxa, namely of the chironomid genera Gymnometriocmemus – Bryophaenocladius, Limnophyes, and Pseudorthocladius are known from spring-fed streams, wet soil and shallow ponds (or the splash zones of bigger lakes) and are often associated with mosses (see high concentrations of moss in this biozone (Fig. 7). The presence of ceratopogonid HCs (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae) and Sialis mandibles (order Megaloptera) is common in both lentic and lotic waters. An isolated finding of a sciarid HC (Diptera: Sciaridae) indicates a wet soil environment.

The younger biozone (451–419cm) was distinguished according to the abundant subfossil remains of lake taxa, indicating an increase in water level and the existence of a perennial shallow lake. The biozone was not, however, rich in (morpho)species: a total of just 6 chironomid taxa, 4 non-chironomid insect taxa, 3 cladoceran taxa, and 1 bryozoan taxa. The most numerous remains belong to the cladoceran Chydorus sphaericus and reach high abundances up to thousands of individuals per 3cm³. Other cladocerans (genera Ceriodaphnia and Daphnia) are represented only by single findings of resting eggs (ephippia).

Fig. 8. Zahájí site. Diagram showing pollen percentages for the ZAH B core.

Fig. 9. Zahájí site. Diagram showing aquatic invertebrate stratigraphy for the ZAH B core. Two types of wetland environment (on the left) were distinguished based on the ecology of the fossil assemblages. Chydorus sphaericus concentrations are shown using a semiquantitative scale (0 = absence; 1 = from 1 to 9 individuals per sample; 2 = from 10 to 100 individuals per sample; 3 = from 100 to 999 per sample; 4 = ≥ 1,000 per sample). HC – head capsule; MNI – minimum number of individuals.

The most numerous chironomid HCs (abundances up to 27 HC per 1cm³ of sediment) represent the genus Chironomus, a taxon usually associated with soft sediments from various types of lake. Other chironomids, namely Ablabesmyia, Limnophyes, Paratendipes nudisquama-type, Psectrocladius, Pseudorthocladius, and Thienemannimyia-type, were found in low abundances (< 1 HC per 1cm³) and represent the fauna of small streams and/or the littoral zone of lakes. Of the non-chironomid finds, larval remains of diving beetles (family Dytiscidae) are worth mentioning as most species are lentic. Overall, the invertebrate assemblages with low species richness and the dominance of Chydorus sphaericus and Chironomus are unusual and clearly indicate extreme conditions.

Zoological analysis of the two modern sediment samples from the waterlogged surface of the current bog revealed the absence of invertebrate fauna in the Fe-rich sample (38.5% of Fe in dry sample according to the XRF analysis) and the presence of invertebrate fauna of running waters and wet soils (mainly chironomids of the subfamily Orthocladiinae) without any lake taxa in the organically rich sample. The sediment samples from Kamencové jezero were dominated by chironomids of the genus Chironomus. The pH and conductivity (K₂₅) values for the Zahájí site (the hand-dug pit) and Kamencové jezero water samples were 5.97 and 865µS/cm and 3.4 and 1016µS/cm respectively. No cladoceran species, including C. sphaericus, were observed in the modern plankton samples from the two sites.

3.5. Analysis of the human nail

A human nail was discovered with the millet remains in the ZA1 core. It was difficult to measure the dimensions of the nail because immediately after picking it out of the swamp it started to shrink. The maximum measured width was 12.0mm (at the fracture point), the maximum length was 8.2mm, and it was ca. 0.5–1.0mm thick at the edge. Parts of the nail (one side and the underside) were damaged by the corer (Fig. 10).

Judging by its morphological features, the nail is likely to be from the thumb or big toe. On the inner side of the nail plate, fine longitudinal grooves are evident as a remnant of attachment to the nail bed, and it also appears that three layers of the human nail plate can be distinguished (namely the dorsal, intermediate, and ventral nail plate; Kobayashi et al., 1999). Slight vertical grooves are evident on the outer surface. Mild vertical grooves often appear on the nails of older adults, probably due to a slowing of cell turnover. The translucent texture of the plate is probably suppressed by the tanning process, although its colour falls far short of the colouring seen on the nails of Old Croghan Man (Giles, 2020, p. 258).

Fig. 10. A – Photo of the human nail shortly after it shrank as a result of drying out; B – A044_report, SciLifeLab Ancient DNA, Evolutionary Biology Centre, Norbyvägen 18C, Uppsala 752 36, Sweden.

The nail seems to be manicured on the distal edge, just as it is, for example, in the case of St. Bees Man and Lindow Man (Brothwell, 1986, p. 39). Its surface was smooth and bore only small scratches that were hardly visible and might have been made after it was deposited in the wetland; there are also no signs of the damage from manual work that can be found, for example, in the nails of the Greenland mummies (Hart Hansen et al. (eds.), 1991, p. 80, fig. 64). Here, numerous transverse cuts in the thumbnails were probably made by a knife.

Ancient DNA (aDNA) was extracted from a 20mg sample of the fingernail, from which two DNA sequencing libraries were prepared. The aDNA processing and the data analysis were performed at the SciLifeLab Ancient DNA facility. Sequencing was performed by the SNP&SEQ Technology Platform in Uppsala, part of the National Genomics Infrastructure, Sweden, hosted by the Science for Life Laboratory (for more information, see Supplementary material, S4). Unfortunately, although DNA data was generated from the sample, the amount that matched human DNA was extremely low, like the blank controls. The interpretation is that no human aDNA was preserved in the specimen (Magnus Lundgren, Ancient DNA project A0 44). This is no surprise given the high acidity of the water in the bog (Fischer, 2012, p. 111). Until now, DNA has only been recovered from preserved teeth and bones, as in the case of Vittrup Man, deposited in a Danish bog between 3300 and 3100BC (Fischer et al., 2024).

3.6. Analysis of organic residues

Part of the ZAH A sediment core was scanned for organic residues to provide information regarding whether any other part of the human body might be still preserved in the swamp. A total of 4 samples (2–8g of dried, grounded and sieved sediment) were Soxhlet extracted using a chloroform/methanol mixture (v/v, 2:1), saponified, fractionated to neutral and acidic fractions, and run by GC/TOF-MS (Agilent 8890 coupled to a TOF-MS analyser Pegasus BT from Leco).

All extracts of the analysed sediment samples were examined for various lipid groups to explore whether there are any specific biomarkers indicating the presence of decomposing human adipose tissue, such as free fatty acids and their oxidative products or steroids (Bull et al., 2009; Lerchi et al., 2022; Queirós et al., 2023). Neither the total lipid extracts (TLEs) nor the neutral and acidic fractions of the TLEs revealed any signs of biomarkers which could be directly related either to adipocere formation or decomposing adipose tissue. The total lipid extracts and acidic fractions contained mainly free fatty acids, dominated by long even fatty acids C_18:0–C_28:0, together with ω-hydroxyfatty acids (e.g. 16-hydroxypalmitic acid). Neutral fractions dominated with free fatty alcohols (C₁₈–C₂₈), long odd linear n-alkanes (C₂₇, C₃₁), long dicarboxylic acids, phytol and plant derived steroids – stigmasterol, β-sitosterol, campesterol, and 5β-stigmastanol, a degradative product of stigmasterol and sitosterol (Evershed and Connolly, 1994) (Fig. S1).

3.7. Millet layer

A layer of uncharred millet grains, rachis, stalks and roots (Fig. 11) was detected at a depth of 4.35m to 4.50m in ZAH2004, ZAH2009, ZAH A–C, ZA1, ZA7, and ZA16. This implies that the millet was dispersed over an area of at least 6 m² (Fig. 4). The original thickness of the millet layer is difficult to determine because of the action of taphonomic processes, but the plants appear to have been thrown/deposited/spread into the lake as a single event and formed a layer a few centimetres thick at most.

Radiocarbon dating of the millet remains (ca. 1428–1311BC) places the site in a group of the four oldest dates from Bohemia and among the oldest dates from central Europe (Fig. S2; in reference to Filipović et al., 2020). At Bohemian sites, most millet finds come from contexts that differ from the broader archaeology of central Europe: one from a wetland (this study), two from abris in a remote sandstone rocky area, and one from the heavily fortified Velim site, which is known for the large number of human sacrifices in ditches and is usually classified as a cult site (Harding et al., 2007). Only one find comes from an ordinary settlement pit. This assessment may, however, be swayed by the fact that macroremains from settlements of archaeologically known age are not commonly radiocarbon-dated in Czechia.

Fig. 11. Collection of plant macroremains from depth 444cm, ZAH B and ZAH C cores. The sample is clearly dominated by Panicum miliaceum, including complete fruits and one stem. Photo: P. Pokorný.

We attempted to recover preserved DNA from two millet grain samples (Z1 and Z2) recovered at a depth of 444cm from the ZAH B and ZAH C cores. DNA extractions were performed in a dedicated clean room facility at the Department of Archaeology, University of Cambridge, UK, following the protocol in Wales and Kistler (2019). Two extraction blanks were carried out to assess laboratory contamination. Libraries for shotgun sequencing were constructed following Meyer and Kircher (2010) and sequenced on an Illumina MiSeq instrument.

Raw sequence data were trimmed of adapter sequence using Paleomix v.1.3.8 (Schubert et al., 2014) and checked for quality using FastQC v. 0.11.9 (Andrews, 2010). Trimmed sequence data were aligned against the reference genome of broomcorn millet (Zou et al., 2019) in Paleomix. Assessment of ancient DNA authenticity was performed using mapDamage v. 2.0 (Jonsson et al., 2013).

Some 1,468,577 sequence reads were retained from sample Z1 following adapter trimming, and 2,121,763 from sample Z2. Only 0.09 % of trimmed reads from Z1 aligned to the broomcorn millet genome, and 0.12 % from Z2. This is comparable with the overall alignment rate from the sequenced extraction blanks. mapDamage plots for sample Z1 showed profiles consistent with damaged modern DNA rather than authentic ancient DNA. Sample Z2 showed nucleotide misincorporation patterns consistent with some authentic ancient DNA of low quality, as well as damaged modern DNA.

These results indicated that, as with the human fingernail, very little endogenous DNA was preserved in the Zahájí millet. Although some studies have reported successful extraction and sequencing of endogenous DNA from waterlogged plant material, the majority of these have been from lignified tissues such as grape pips and subfossil wood remains (Schworer et al., 2022).

4.1. Environmental context of the millet layer and the human nail

Recognizing that at the time of the find deposition the valley floor of the Podbradecký Brook was not a swamp but rather a shallow lake alters the interpretation of this discovery. As Fredengren (2011, p. 116) points out, the quality of the water (and its depth) adds character to the deposition; certain types of artefacts are preferentially deposited in flowing water (e.g. swords and axes); other finds, such as bog bodies, are known exclusively from bogs.

The lake appeared shortly before the millet/nail deposition around 1500–1400BC. It is estimated to have been between 1.0m and 4.5m deep, at most ca. 30m wide, but of unknown length. The very low species richness of the aquatic invertebrate remains found in its sediments can be explained by the extreme chemistry of the lake water resulting from the geological bedrock in the catchment and the related presence of dissociated basaluminite. The two most abundant aquatic invertebrate taxa, the cladoceran C. sphaericus and the chironomids of the genus Chironomus, are known to be early colonizers of lakes after significant environmental change, especially under low pH conditions (e.g. Hrdinka et al., 2013; Stuchlík et al., 2017). These two dominant taxa were not found in the modern samples from the Zahájí site. Their high concentrations around the millet layers suggest the presence of a perennial acidic lake. Water pH values of that lake were low, but higher than the current pH of Kamencové Lake (so probably in the range pH 4.0–5.0), where no cladocerans live, not even the hardy Chydorus sphaericus. This interpretation is further supported by the evidence on authigenic precipitation of basaluminite, a mineral associated with pH values between 3.5 and 5.5 (Espana, 2003). The low pH had a positive effect on the preservation of various remains (e.g. the unique preservation of filamentous algae; Fig. S5) but could have had a negative effect on the preservation of aDNA or adipocere formation (Ubelaker and Zarenko, 2011; Lerchi et al., 2022; Schworer et al., 2022). The newly formed lake may have attracted the attention of the MBA people because of its unusual water and lake-bottom colours (green, green-blue, brown, orange, or red), which are common in lakes with low pH and increased conductivity (saltiness) (Hrdinka, 2012; Hrdinka et al., 2013; Fig. S3). Because of elevated concentrations of dissociated basaluminite, it cannot be ruled out that the lake water had therapeutic effects on skin diseases and rheumatism, as in the case of Kamencové Lake (Gabrielová, 1997, and references therein), and was therefore intentionally used for this purpose. On the other hand, the water was probably not drinkable because of its pronounced acidity, unpleasant taste, and its potential toxicity indicated by the presence of basaluminite. This mineral is known from areas affected by acid mine drainage, where toxic elements present in solution, such as Cu and As, can be retained by co-precipitation or adsorption onto it (Carrero et al., 2016).

Artefactual deposits in water bodies are well known phenomena of prehistoric Europe, but they are almost exclusively metal artefacts, sometimes found together with human and animal bones (e.g. Bradley, 2000; 2017; Fontijn, 2007). Weapons are the main objects in rivers, and these findings are also known from sites in present-day Czechia (Dreslerová, 2004). Lakes, with evidence of both ornaments and weapons, are usually interpreted as ‘an opening into the subterranean world, a dwelling of certain deities’ (Brunaux, 1987, p. 42). Lund (2010) suggests that in many cases, bodies of water separated the living from the dead.

Millet was undoubtedly a staple crop in (later) prehistoric agriculture in Europe, but in accordance with other cereals, there are no traces of its use in rituals, nor any mention of such customs in ethnographic literature. The date of the millet find from Zahájí corresponds to its first appearance in central Europe (Filipović et al., 2020), perhaps even before it became a firm part of an assortment of cultivated crops (Dreslerová and Kočár, 2013). If we were looking for a ritual purpose in its deposition, we could speculate that it was deposited (sacrificed) as something wholly new, arriving for the first time in a particular region and community; the ¹⁴C data support this interpretation.

We suppose that complete millet plants were thrown into the lake, but a lack of information prevents us from determining whether a complete human body was also in the lake. If so, the corer might have torn the fingernail from the remainder of the finger/thumb tissue. The rest of the body may still be in the swamp, perhaps in the form of soft tissue, skin, and hair, as no bones would have survived in such an acidic environment. We did not, however, visually recognize any human tissue in the boreholes.

The inverted stratigraphy of the mud layers, which were most likely on the bottom of the lake, provides an indirect hint for the throwing of the entire corpse (or another heavy object) into the water. The mud could have been discharged (splashed) as a result of the body hitting the lake bottom and then descending back down in reverse order.

Another possibility is that the nail is simply a fragment of a body that was spread over a broader area (catchment) of the lake, as at Kvarntorp, Högtorpsmossen, where numerous parts of a body were found within an area 50m across (Fredengren, 2011).

The existence of a nail only could also be a result of its having been separated from the rest of the finger tissue and drifted away through post-depositional processes, as observed in the case of the Lindow Man, where significant lateral displacement of the nails within the peat took place as a result of some later process after some degree of decomposition of the body (Brothwell, 1986, pp. 87–88).

There are many other ways in which a nail can be separated from the body prior to death: a fingernail can be torn from its bed because of torture or after some injury; it could come from an amputated finger/toe (McCauley and Collard, in press); it could be accidentally cut off during some form of physical labour, such as harvesting.

Finally, we cannot rule out the possibility that the fingernail could have entered the lake through its inflow or by erosion of the banks (redeposition).

However, contrary to the previous assertion based on the inverted stratigraphy of the mud layers, it is also possible that the nail was the only body part present in the swamp. It is supported by the fact that the presence of biomarkers originating from adipocere or decomposed human tissues were not detected in either the analysed total lipid extracts or the perspective fractions. Based on the identified compounds, the lipids probably originated from the decomposition of plant tissues (leaves, roots) and plant lipid polymers such as cutin and suberin (Riderer et al., 1993; Simpson et al., 1999; Bull et al., 2009). Because of their hydrophobicity, non-polar lipids of decomposing tissues are not usually prone to leaching or to dissemination further into the surrounding environment (Evershed and Connolly, 1994). Lipids released into the soil through adipocere formation can be found in the surrounding soil over a long timescale (Fiedler et al., 2009; Sousa Querós et al., 2023). On the other hand, key factors in adipocere formation are usually a mildly alkaline pH and a warm, moist, anaerobic environment (Ubelaker and Zarenko, 2011; Lerchi et al., 2022). An acidic, anaerobic and nutrient-poor environment, typical of raised bogs, would have favoured the preservation of soft tissue such as skin, hair, or nails (Sanden and Mellor, 1996; Nielsen et al., 2020). However, lipids other than from peat would probably be absent, as was shown in a peat sample immediately adjacent to the Lindow Man bog body in the study by Evershed and Connolly (1994).

4.2. Interpretation of the findings

The first known finding of MBA millet in the former lake sediment is enhanced by the presence of at least part of a human body. Its connection to the millet is likely, although it cannot be confirmed conclusively. In this case, the first line of evidence concerns the findings in the bogs of north-western and north-central Europe and the eastern Baltic region. Bog bodies are usually considered as social outcasts or ´witches´ (Lund 2002, cited in Randsborg 2015) or it was a common norm for those who had suffered unusual deaths (Ravn 2010). Randsborg (2015, 8) considers bog bodies to be egal hostages killed in anger over broken treaty arrangements, and in accordance with the wording of such mutual agreements.

Artefacts deposited in these wetland areas are often interpreted as ritual deposits that represent offerings to gods or spirits. The most common type of ritual deposits are everyday objects such as ceramic vessels, bones, and wooden artefacts (Mortensen et al., 2020). So far, however, there is no other finding of either deposition of dispersed cereal grains or bundles of whole plants in a lake.

The second line of evidence is based on the customs practised in various parts of the world and the myths surrounding them, and the harvest customs of the European peasantry, which persisted until the late modern period. Because of the discovery of entire ears with mature grains and roots, we assume that the deposition in the lake occurred in summer or early autumn, i.e. during the harvest. This was an event that many ceremonies, customs and festivals have been associated with since ancient times. Many of them were recorded by ethnographers of the second half of the 19th century and the first half of the 20th (e.g. Mennhardt, 1875 and 1884, cited by Stránská 1932–33). In the geographic area of central and eastern Europe, the ethnographer D. Stránská (1932–33) collected a large amount of material, drawing on, among other things, extensive Slavic literature. The harvest customs she describes are mostly associated with the last sheaf of grain, which received special treatment. It was usually ceremoniously reaped, tied (sometimes in the shape of a figure), brought to the householder’s dwelling, and ceremoniously stored or displayed in a place of honour. In The Golden Bough (1895; here the later edition of 1994), James Frazer described a quite different type of custom associated with the last harvest. Here, a figure known as the ‘spirit of the crop’ plays an important role. The so-called corn-spirit must be killed at the end of the harvest in order to be reborn the following year. The customs associated with the end of the corn-spirit may be based on the story of a mythological figure named Lityerses, an illegitimate son of Midas, a mythical king of Phrygia (12th − 7th century BC). Lityerses reaped the corn. When a stranger happened to enter the cornfield or pass by it, Lityerses gave him plenty to eat and drink, then took him to the cornfields on the banks of the river and compelled him to reap along with him. Finally, he wrapped the stranger in a sheaf, cut off his head with a sickle, and carried away his body, swathed in the cornstalks. There are some grounds for supposing that in these stories of Lityerses we have the description of a Phrygian harvest custom in accordance with which certain persons, especially strangers passing the harvest field, were regularly regarded as embodiments of the corn-spirit, and as such were seized by the reapers, wrapped in sheaves, and beheaded, their bodies, bound up in the corn-stalks, being afterwards thrown into water as a rain-charm (Fraser, 1994, p. 337). According to Fraser, in many European countries and in numerous regional forms, the idea of the corn-spirit has persisted into modern times. The corn-spirit was usually considered to be the man or woman who harvested the last of the crop from the field. Alternatively, it was the thresher who gave the last stroke, or the person who untied the last sheaf on the threshing-floor. This person was wrapped in the sheaf, shamed, sometimes beaten, doused with water, thrown into a dunghill and finally into a stream (it should be noted that this was done without decapitation or other killing). Thus, the person whose remains were preserved at Zahájí could represent the corn-spirit, and was thrown as such into the water together with the millet plants or even wrapped into a sheaf of millet.

Although this idea may seem far-fetched, other cases exist in which the same cultural customs have been passed down for centuries, if not millennia. Modzelewski (2006) demonstrates a principle of ‘long memory’ when he describes the correspondence between the ritual killing of criminals and their deposition in marshes as described in Tacitus’ Germania and the barbaric customs recorded at the beginning of the 11th century AD.

The Czech historian Dušan Třeštík (2003) goes deeper into the past, describing identical elements in the New Year festivals of the pagan Slavs of Rügen in the 12th century AD and the ancient Greeks of Sparta. According to Třeštík, the same rituals in remote parts of an Old World reflect their common cultural Indo-European foundation, and the ritual’s origins would have been traced back at least to the Bronze Age.

Current linguistic theories regarding the time when the Indo-European proto-language was dispersed take us still further into the past, to the period between about 4500 and 2500BC (Olander, 2019, p. 24). The westward migrations of descendants of the Proto-Indo-Europeans from their probable homeland on the Pontic-Caspian steppe (Mallory, 1989; Anthony, 2007) meant the expansion not only of the language but also of various cultural practices, including religious rituals such as offerings to the gods and the use of sacred spaces for ceremonies. Such theories could explain the similarity between customs in areas as distant as central Europe and ancient Phrygia some three thousand years ago.

The third line of evidence comes from the nature of the Zahájí site itself. The water was extremely acidic and not suitable for drinking by either humans or livestock, but its properties might have been interesting otherwise. Its chemical composition is like the water in Kamencové Lake near Chomutov in northwestern Bohemia (Fig. S3), where experiments with commercial bathing took place as early as the 19th century. The possibility that the water at Zahájí was used for some therapeutic purpose (disinfection of wounds, skin ailments, etc.) cannot, therefore, be ruled out.

The first discovery of prehistoric human remains in a swamp (former lake) in central Europe and the only known finding of whole cereal plants (broomcorn millet) deposited in the same environment are potentially highly significant, even though they do not obviously relate to any archaeological or ethnographic parallels. As a result, we consciously allow ourselves to enter the realm of speculation. ‘Archaeologists often complain that they lack sufficient information to offer persuasive interpretations of the past. Usually this is true, but here,’ stated Richard Bradley in Deposits of Valuables in the Landscapes of Ancient Europe (2017), ‘is a case in which they have too much material at their disposal and not enough ideas with which to address it.’ Contrary to Bradley’s statement, we have limited information at our disposal, but plenty of ideas with which to approach it. We believe nonetheless, notwithstanding the fragility of our assumptions, that it is necessary to communicate these ideas within the scientific community. Because excavation 4.5m under a swamp and under the water table would be extremely difficult and costly, experience and ideas from other parts of the world could help us to understand this unique find.

The finding of a possible ritual treatment of broomcorn millet shortly after its introduction to the crop assemblage of the Middle Bronze Age, and the dating of that find, which makes it among the earliest such finds in central Europe, combine to make Zahájí a site of some significance, and may help to address the question of why this crop swiftly became a staple in many European Bronze Age communities and to explore and explain the role it played in past societies. Specifically, we believe that reverence for this plant might have contributed to its rapid distribution throughout Bronze Age Europe.

Acknowledgements

This study would not have been possible without the help of many colleagues who spent difficult moments trying to get samples out of the swamp. We are especially grateful to Č. Čišecký for his GIS, GPS and graphical services.

The processing of human ancient DNA and the data analysis were performed by the SciLifeLab Ancient DNA facility. Sequencing was performed by the SNP&SEQ Technology Platform in Uppsala, part of the National Genomics Infrastructure (NGI) Sweden and Science for Life Laboratory. The SNP&SEQ Platform is also supported by the Swedish Research Council and the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation.

Plant ancient DNA analysis was carried out in the Department of Archaeology, University of Cambridge, UK and the DNA Sequencing Facility, Department of Biochemistry, Cambridge UK. We are grateful to Rosalyn Christian, Jo Osborne, and Shilo Dickens for their assistance.

Funding statement

The work of D. Dreslerová, and V. Brychová, and the 14Cdating was supported by the projects MEYS, EU “Ultra-trace isotope research in social and environmental studies using accelerator mass spectrometry”,Reg. No. CZ.02.1.01/0.0/0.0/16_019/0000728 and „RES-HUM“ CZ.02.01.01/00/22_008/0004593. P. Pokorný was funded by the European Union with a Consolidator Grant awarded to Giedrė Motuzaitė Matuzevičiūtė (ERC-CoG, MILWAYS, 101087964). Views and opinions expressed are those of the authors only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Research Council Executive Agency. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.

D. Vondrák was supported by the Czech Science Foundation (project no. GA ČR 23-06075S). J. Hošek was supported by Charles University Research Centre programme no. UNCE/24/SCI/006, a contribution to the Strategic Research Plan of the Czech Geological Survey (DKRVO/ČGS 2023-2027).H. Hunt was supported by a Leverhulme Trust project grant RPG-2017-196, “Crops, Pollinators and People” and a NERC grant “Evolutionary dynamics of vegetative agriculture in the Ethiopian Highlands” ref. NE/W005689/1.

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

Author Contribution

DD wrote the main manuscript text, DD, PP, DV and JH made fieldworks, PP, DV, JH,VB and HH made laboratory analyses, all authors participated on creating ideas and preparing figures. All authors reviewed the manuscript.

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The exceptional find of a Bronze Age votive bog offering of millet accompanied by a human sacrifice. Or was it the other way around?

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Abstract

Figures

1. Introduction

2. Study site

2.1. Environmental background

2.1. Archaeological background

3. Methods and results

4. Discussion

4.1. Environmental context of the millet layer and the human nail

4.2. Interpretation of the findings

5. Conclusions

Declarations

Competing interests

Author Contribution

References

Additional Declarations

Supplementary Files

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