The grave of the “Ice Prince,” a 7th century elite boy buried with rich furnishings in a stone chamber grave, has been fully excavated and studied almost four years after its discovery. Scientific analysis of the remains have allowed archaeologists to reconstruct the child’s life, death and burial rituals.
The grave was found in October 2021 at the site of a new development in Tussenhausen, near Mattsies in Bavaria. The excavation found the remains of a Roman building that was later reused to house this one grave of an elite child, converting the ancient structure into a mausoleum dedicated to one little boy lost too soon. The child was dubbed the Ice Prince because archaeologists used a new technique to flash-freeze the grave with liquid nitrogen before removing it in a single frozen block. The thick stone walls and cover of the tomb were so flawlessly sealed by lime mortar that no sediments had penetrated it over the centuries. Organic contents, including rare remnants of a silk garment and leather sword scabbard, were visible inside the grave but without a thick matrix of soil to keep them stable, they were at risk of being destroyed just by unavoidable jostling in transport.
The ingenious solution devised on the spot by the Bavarian State Office for the Preservation of Monuments (BLfD) archaeologists was to remove the tomb’s heavy stone walls, reinforce the sides with padded wooden panels, slide a plate between the brick floor and the bottom of the grave and then wet and freeze the contents in layers. The unfrozen soil surrounding it was then cut away, and the frozen island craned out whole. The sides, top and bottom of the chamber tomb were removed separately.
The frozen block was transported to the BLfD conservation laboratory in Bamberg where it was stored in a freezer until thawing began in humidity and temperature-controlled condition. Researchers uncovered that the boy died between 670 and 680 A.D. at the tragically young age of one and a half. DNA analysis indicate he had blue eyes and light hair and strontium isotope analysis of his tooth enamel suggest he was born and raised in the region where he was buried. He suffered a common fate in the era before antibiotics: he died of a sepsis developed from a middle ear infection.
His bereaved family must have been regionally important. They had significant wealth, access to expensive materials like silk imported from the Byzantine Empire and high-end craftsmanship. They created a memorial building in the former Roman estate. In a time and place where stone buildings were uncommon, this family employed skilled stonemasons to build a thick slab burial chamber sealed with lime mortar.
Laid to rest on a fur, the child was dressed in leather shoes, trousers and long-sleeved shirt made of fine linen decorated with strips of Byzantine silk on the cuffs and front. He had silver bracelets on each wrist and silver spurs on his leather shoes. A short slashing sword decorated with elaborate gold filigree fittings was strapped to his belt inside a leather scabbard. A textile stitched with a cross made of two strips of gold sheeting was included in the burial that may be evidence of either early Christian beliefs or of the influence of Christian iconography.
At the foot on the burial chamber were grave goods, probably placed on a woven mat: a bronze basin containing a comb, a wooden bowl, a spherical drinking cup decorated with silver fittings, food offerings including hazelnuts, apples and a pear. Animal bones found next to the bronze basin that were initially thought to belong to a dog were actually the remains of a piglet. All of these elements played a ritual role in formal banquets. Participants washed their hands in bronze bowls, combed their hair and then ate and drank from wooden vessels with silver fittings.
The building housing the tomb was remodeled at least twice after the burial, remaining a space of worship and remembrance for decades—perhaps generations. “They not only buried the child with honors but also tended to his memory with great care,” added [Mathias Pfeil, general director of the BLfD].
* This article was originally published here
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