Abstract
Apotropaic observances-traditional practices intended to prevent evil-were not uncommon in post-medieval Poland, and included specific treatment of the dead for those considered at risk for becoming vampires. Excavations at the Drawsko 1 cemetery (17th–18th c. AD) have revealed multiple examples (n = 6) of such deviant burials amidst hundreds of normative interments. While historic records describe the many potential reasons why some were more susceptible to vampirism than others, no study has attempted to discern differences in social identity between individuals within standard and deviant burials using biogeochemical analyses of human skeletal remains. The hypothesis that the individuals selected for apotropaic burial rites were non-local immigrants whose geographic origins differed from the local community was tested using radiogenic strontium isotope ratios from archaeological dental enamel. 87Sr/86Sr ratios ( = 0.7112±0.0006, 1σ) from the permanent molars of 60 individuals reflect a predominantly local population, with all individuals interred as potential vampires exhibiting local strontium isotope ratios. These data indicate that those targeted for apotropaic practices were not migrants to the region, but instead, represented local individuals whose social identity or manner of death marked them with suspicion in some other way. Cholera epidemics that swept across much of Eastern Europe during the 17th century may provide one alternate explanation as to the reason behind these apotropaic mortuary customs, as the first person to die from an infectious disease outbreak was presumed more likely to return from the dead as a vampire.
Highlights
Deviant burials in the archaeological record refer to those interments that differ from standard burial rites for a given community or culture [1]
While individuals targeted as vampires might have been selected for a variety of reasons, the sociopolitical events of the post-medieval period in Poland, including well-documented, large-scale immigration to the region during this time [e.g., 10, 11, 12], suggested that those interred with antivampiristic apotropaics might be non-local migrants whose outsider status marked them with the potential to return from the dead
Of the five sampled individuals interred as vampires with sickles across their bodies and/or rocks beneath their jaws, all displayed local strontium isotope ratios, causing us to reject the hypothesis that these individuals were intentionally buried with apotropaics meant to prevent them from returning as the undead because of their ‘outsider’ status as non-local migrants to the area
Summary
Deviant burials in the archaeological record refer to those interments that differ from standard burial rites for a given community or culture [1]. As treatment of the dead can reflect how the living view (or more idealistically, want to view) themselves, a study of deviant burial practices illustrates action taken against the deceased because of a social identity (endowed during life or after death) incongruous with that of the larger culture. Such action may include the use of apotropaics – practices undertaken or objects utilized to prevent evil – within the grave itself [4]. It was hypothesized that the dental enamel of the six individuals buried as possible vampires would exhibit non-local strontium signatures relative to those contained within ‘normal’ graves, indicative of immigration to the region later in life
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