The discovery was made during renovation work on a wall surrounding the former gardens of Ruthenian Uniate Church bishops on Chełm Hill in the Lubelskie region of southeast Poland.
Paweł Wira, head of the Provincial Office for Monument Protection in Chełm, said that the human remains were in a location not historically associated with any known cemetery, making the find particularly significant.
One grave had striking features reminiscent of an anti-vampire burial. The child’s skull was found separated from the torso and placed face down, with stones pressed onto the body.
This practice, Wira said, was intended to prevent the deceased from rising from the grave, as such individuals were often believed to be demonic.
Both graves are believed to date back to the 13th century, during the time of Prince Daniel Romanovich, who built a palace and church on Chełm Hill. The skeletons were buried without coffins and aligned east-west.
More anthropological examination of the find will be conducted, and archeologists are not ruling out the possibility of finding more graves nearby.
This eerie discovery deepens the historical mystery surrounding medieval burial practices in the region.
