Jan Bartek – AncientPages.com – Scientists continue to explore the fascinating Bad Dürrenberg shaman burial with great care and dedication, steadily sharing new insights that deepen our understanding of the mysterious woman laid to rest there.
This 9,000-year-old double burial from Bad Dürrenberg, Germany—an adult woman and an infant—remains one of Central Europe’s most remarkable archaeological discoveries.
Artistic reconstruction of the Bad Dürrenberg Shaman wearing her feather-decorated ornate. Credit: Karol Schauer, State Office for Heritage Management and Archaeology Saxony-Anhalt
First uncovered by chance during water pipe construction in the 1930s, the grave had to be excavated in a single afternoon, yet even under such pressure, archaeologists managed to recover invaluable grave goods. These artifacts revealed that the woman had been buried in a seated position, accompanied by items that point to her special role as a shaman.
Research has shown that she was between 30 and 40 years old, with a child of about 6 months tenderly placed in her arms. Her headdress of deer antler and pendants made from animal teeth speak to her elevated status as the spiritual leader of her community.
It is remarkable that, despite the hurried circumstances of the 1934 sewer work, so much could be preserved and later studied.
Since December 2019, renewed excavations at the presumed grave site in the spa park of Bad Dürrenberg—carried out in preparation for the State Garden Show—have allowed researchers to relocate and more fully investigate the burial. Because the original work had only opened a narrow trench, parts of the red-ochre-filled burial pit remained untouched for decades. Thanks to this, numerous artifacts overlooked in 1934 have now been recovered.
An international research team has examined the remaining burial pit using the latest scientific methods, revealing traces of grave goods that did not survive the millennia. Through careful pollen analysis, they have even found evidence of floral decorations near the shaman’s head.
Pollen From Flowering Plants In The Bad Dürrenberg Shaman’s Grave
Flowers and flowering plants as grave goods have long been part of human history, even appearing in some of the earliest known burials. One example comes from the Shanidar Cave in the Zagros Mountains of Iraq, where an unusually high concentration of flower pollen was discovered in a Neanderthal grave. Although this was first seen as evidence of flowers placed with the deceased, later interpretations have thoughtfully suggested that insects might have carried the pollen into the cave.
See also:
DNA Study Sheds New Light On The Mysterious 9,000-Year-Old Shaman Burial In Bad Dürrenberg
Bad Dürrenberg Shaman’s 9,000-Year-Old Spectacular Headdress And Another Surprising Discovery
Yet we do have clear, compelling evidence of floral offerings dating to around 13,700 to 11,700 years ago in burials at Raqefet Cave in Israel. There, hunter-gatherers carefully adorned four graves with abundant, colorful flowers, lining the grave pits with them in a striking display of care and respect.
Examples of pollen from the Bad Dürrenberg grave: A Spruce, BC Pine, D Green algae, probably adhering to waterfowl feathers, E Birch, F Asteraceae, GH Mullein, i Goosefoot family, JL Rearranged pollen and spores of various types. Credit: Elisabeth Endtmann State Office for Geology and Mining Saxony-Anhalt
With this background, it was both natural and meaningful to look for traces of flowering plants in the Bad Dürrenberg burial as well. Pollen analyst Elisabeth Endtmann, from the State Office for Geology and Mining of Saxony-Anhalt, conducted the examination with great care. Under the microscope, she did indeed find pollen, even if only in modest amounts. Especially noteworthy is the concentration of pollen around the shaman’s head. There, pollen from visually striking flowering plants was identified, including meadowsweet, mullein, buttercup, and devil ’s-bit scabious.
Medical plants. Credit: Public Domain
Each of these plants brings its own quiet beauty: meadowsweet in shades of white, cream, pink, or red; mullein most often in yellow, sometimes white or purple; buttercup in a vivid yellow; and devil ’s-bit scabious in violet to blue, with related scabious species showing similar hues. Together, they would have created a wonderfully colorful, almost reverent scene—an ancient gesture of care that we can still appreciate today.
“The pollen probably became trapped in the shaman’s hair while she was still alive. However, it is also conceivable that her head was placed on flowers at her burial. Unfortunately, due to the small number of pollen samples, there will be no definitive answer,” explains Elisabeth Endtmann.
Among the pollen found in the grave, numerous plants with functions in traditional folk medicine stand out. Birch leaves, due to their diuretic effect, are used to treat cystitis, rheumatism, gout, and dropsy. Buckthorn bark is used as a laxative, hops can serve as a sedative, and lady’s mantle is used to treat wounds, bleeding, ulcers, abdominal pain, kidney stones, and headaches.
“Whether the shaman from Bad Dürrenberg was aware of the medicinal properties of the plants remains unclear, of course,” explains state archaeologist Harald Meller, “but there are numerous ethnographic examples of shamans using medicinal plants, and hunter-gatherers who live from and in harmony with their environment often possess such knowledge.”
By carefully examining the flowering periods of the plants found in the head area of the shaman, researchers can make cautious inferences about the likely time of burial. The data indicate that the greatest overlap in flowering times occurs in July, suggesting this month as the most probable burial period.
See also: More Archaeology News
Another important finding is the presence of green algae in the grave. This algae likely attached itself to the feathers of waterfowl that were also discovered at the site, providing additional clues about the burial environment and associated rituals.
Beyond pollen analysis, research conducted in recent years has produced numerous new insights into the grave of the shaman from Bad Dürrenberg. These findings will be presented to the public in a major special exhibition at the State Museum of Prehistory in Halle (Saale), opening on March 27, 2026.
Source: Landesamt für Denkmalpflege und Archäologie Sachsen-Anhalt – Landesmuseum für Vorgeschichte