2,400-Year-Old Tomb in Iraq Holds 6 Skeletons and Bronze Goods – but it Was Not Wealthy

A tomb in northern Iraq held a pile of skeletons of at least six people, including those who lived 2,400 years ago. Apart from the human remains, valuable objects where discovered in the tomb as well, including a typical Achaemenid bronze bracelet decorated with two snake heads facing each other.

An Achaemenid Era Tomb that Didn’t Belong to Noblemen

The outcomes of the excavation were presented by Kyra Kaercher and Katie Downey, graduate students at the University of Pennsylvania and Ohio State University respectively, in November 2016 at the American Schools of Oriental Research’s annual meeting.

The beautiful bracelet found in the tomb helped the team of archaeologists to date it. As they told Live Science, “The snake-headed bracelet was very popular in Achaemenid times.”

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They added that is not easy to accurately estimate exactly how many people were initially buried in the tomb, as some of the skeletons were found in a jumbled state. That state of disorganization implies that some people (possibly thieves) entered and may robbed the tomb at some point.