Scientists have reconstructed the face of a woman who was believed to be a vampire and was buried with a sickle around her neck to prevent her from returning from the dead. The remains of the woman were found in 2022 at a gravesite in Poland and archaeologists were stunned by what they were looking at.
We now know what the 400-year-old woman looked like, thanks to the work done by the research team from the Nicolaus Copernicus University in Torun, who found the skeleton, and Swedish archaeologist Oscar Nilsson.
The team used DNA, 3D printing and clay to reconstruct the face of the “vampire” woman known to locals as Zosia.
Pointing out the irony, Nilsson told Reuters that “they did everything they could in order to prevent her from coming back from the dead … we have done everything we can in order to bring her back to life.”
A 3D-printed replica of the skull was used along with information about the woman’s age, weight and other details to sculpt muscles and facial features, as per a video showing the reconstruction in progress.
Nilson explained the sequence of events as they must have unfolded centuries ago in a social media post. He said that Zosia was buried only with a padlock. However, villagers started experiencing some unexplainable bad luck, and their minds raced towards the vampire. So they opened up the grave.
To their surprise, they found the padlock open. Panicked at the sight of it, they placed the sharp blade of a sickle over her neck, Nilsson said. “In case she would arise.”
People thought to be vampires were buried with sickle
Magdalena Zagrodzka, part of the research team that found Zosia, said there was also a silk headdress woven with gold or silver thread. She said that the cap shows that she belonged to a higher stature in society.
Burying people with a sickle around their neck was a common practice in Poland around in 17th century. Several more skeletons have been found in the recent past with sickles around their necks. Remains of a decapitated “vampire child” were also discovered in September this year, with heavy blocks placed over the grave.