1,500-year-old bones found in IKEA bag in Germany
A volunteer helper from the 1965 excavation, who later moved to the Fulda area for work, was allowed to keep the skeletal parts as a thank-you.
Bone fragments approximately 1,500 years old were found in an Ikea bag in Fulda, Germany.
Fulda's city administration reported that an IKEA bag containing the finds was handed over to the Department of City and District Archaeology of Fulda. Die Welt reported that the remains likely belong to a person who lived about 1,500 years ago.
The bone fragments are believed to originate from an archaeological excavation in Lower Saxony, specifically from a burial ground excavated in 1965.
A volunteer helper from the 1965 excavation, who later moved to the Fulda area for work, was allowed to keep the skeletal parts as a thank-you. "This was not an unusual practice at that time," the city explained, according to Bild.
Many years later, the original owner passed the bones to an acquaintance who is a member of the Archaeological Working Group Fulda. This acquaintance handed over the finds at the turn of the year in a large blue bag to the Fulda city and district archaeologist, Milena Wingenfeld, as per Die Welt.
The finds were still wrapped in newspaper from the 1950s and 1960s. Focus Online noted that the artifacts from the excavation 60 years ago have been scattered in all directions.
The finds have already been pre-sorted and are on their way to the Göttingen district archaeology office, according to Focus Online.
This article was written in collaboration with generative AI company Alchemiq
