18 September 2025 The Future is the Product of the Past

Europe’s oldest grave of a newborn girl found in İtaly

An international team of researchers has found Europe’s oldest tomb of a newborn girl, dating back 10,000 years, in Liguria.

The researchers stated in a paper published Tuesday in the journal Scientific Reports that the burial site in Liguria, Italy, comprises over 60 perforated shell beads, four pendants, and an eagle-owl talon beside the human bones.

The baby girl, dubbed “Neve” (Snow) after a river in the region, was between just 40 and 50 days old when she died.

The discovery was made by Stefano Benazzi of the University of Bologna, Fabio Negrino of the Università of Genova, and Marco Peresani of the University of Ferrara, with the support of the Sincrotrone Elettra research center in Trieste.

According to the researchers, the discovery sheds light on the early Mesolithic period, during which there are few known burials. It is also significant, given the seemingly egalitarian treatment for the funeral of an infant female, the researchers said.

“Infant burials are especially rare,” so this finding adds important information to help fill a gap in knowledge spanning from the latest Upper Paleolithic period to the earliest part of the Mesolithic, said Hodgkins, an associate professor of anthropology at the University of Colorado Denver.

“There’s a decent record of human burials before around 14,000 years ago,” said Hodgkins.

Archaeologists seldom locate the bones of ancient human infants, particularly newborns, since they are frequently too little and frail to survive millennia. Adult remains are more prevalent, although the archaeological record of prehistoric burials contains significant gaps that span thousands of years. And when ancient burials of children have been found, it’s usually been impossible to determine their sex because any DNA in their bones has deteriorated.

Neve’s remains, however, are exceptional because they survived more than 10,000 years in the ground and still contained enough DNA for the scientists to analyze, explained the University of Colorado, Denver palaeoarchaeologist Jamie Hodgkins.

  “Neve’s discovery is of exceptional importance,” said Stefano Benazzi of the University of Bologna.

“It will help us fill in many gaps, throwing light on the ancient social structure and funerary and ritual behavior of these ancestors of ours”.

Mortuary practices offer a window into the worldviews and social structure of past societies, the researchers said.

Cover Photo by Jamie Hodgkins/CU Denver

Source: 10.1038/s41598-021-02804-z 

Related Articles

Decapitated skeletons of Roman ‘criminals’ found on HS2 route

5 February 2022

5 February 2022

Archaeologists working with the HS2 project have discovered 425 bodies on the route of the new railway line – around...

Karahantepe will shed light on the mysteries of the Prehistoric period

7 October 2021

7 October 2021

Karahantepe’s ancient site, which is home to Neolithic-era T-shaped obelisks similar to the ones in the world-famous Göbeklitepe, will reveal...

In the new images, Scotland’s biggest Pictish fort is “reconstructed.’

2 November 2021

2 November 2021

Stunning new reconstructions have revealed how Scotland’s largest known Pictish fort may have looked over one thousand years ago. Three-dimensional...

New Study reveals how England’s ‘White Queen’ worshipped a disembowelled saint at the Chapel of St Erasmus

5 December 2022

5 December 2022

A new study reveals the story of how England’s “White Queen”, Elizabeth Woodville, wife of Edward IV, once worshipped at...

Part of The ‘Missing Link’ in Human Migration may have been Found in Kaldar Cave

3 April 2021

3 April 2021

Kaldar cave is an important archaeological site that provides evidence for the transition from the Middle and Upper Paleolithic Ages...

KIŠIB: A Digital Archive From 80,000 Mesopotamian Seals is Being Created

19 December 2024

19 December 2024

Over the next 16 years, a research team from the Institute for Near Eastern Archaeology at the Free University of...

A 2,000-Year-Old Shoe Discovered in a German Bog

22 June 2021

22 June 2021

Archaeologists discovered a leather shoe that had been lost in a bog for 2,000 years and believe it may have...

Evidence of a Roman shrine dating back was discovered during dig at Leicester Cathedral

7 March 2023

7 March 2023

Excavations by the University of Leicester archaeologists for have uncovered evidence that the site of Leicester Cathedral has been used...

Are the skeletons found in the restoration of the Bukoleon Palace the victims of the Crusader army massacre in Constantinople?

29 November 2021

29 November 2021

It is thought that the 7 skeletons messy found in the Bukoleon Palace excavations may be the victims of the...

Medieval Rye: From Humble Weed to Powerful Staple – New Study Reveals Surprising Farming Secrets

27 May 2025

27 May 2025

Discover how medieval rye cultivation was far more advanced than previously believed. New research reveals intensive farming and fertilizing techniques...

New Study shows Early Native Americans in Alaska were freshwater fishermen 13,000 years ago

15 June 2023

15 June 2023

A team led by the University of Alaska Fairbanks researchers has discovered the earliest known evidence that Native Americans living...

More than 56400 Cultural Goods Seized in Operation Pandora V

11 May 2021

11 May 2021

Operation Pandora V, aimed at preventing the illegal trade of cultural goods, has been one of the most successful operations...

Experts say that the Stone of Destiny was a doorstep

2 May 2024

2 May 2024

The Stone of Destiny’s recorded links to Scottish royalty date back almost 1000 years, and its origins are shrouded in...

Roman Bath Complex Found under Spain’s Caños de Meca beach

22 May 2021

22 May 2021

A well-preserved ancient Roman bath complex emerged from the sand of a beach in the Andalusian region of southwestern Spain....

4 Aztec child burials unearthed in Mexico and dated to the Early Colonial period may be indicators of Aztec resistance

6 July 2022

6 July 2022

During an archaeological rescue effort in Mexico City’s historic central district of La Lagunilla, the remains of an Aztec house...