(ORDO NEWS) — Archaeologists have discovered a medieval Korean burial in a jar.
The tradition of burying people in jars arose in different cultures independently of each other in different eras.
In ancient Egypt, children were often buried in this way, the inhabitants of the Caucasus of the Leilatepe culture (late copper age), and among the Indians of South America, Tupi and Arawaks, the custom of burial in earthenware jars existed until the 20th century.
There is a similar tradition in Asian cultures.
Johannes Krause of the Max Planck Institute for Human History and colleagues examined similar cremated remains found in 2016 at Gunsan in a 5th-7th century burial ground.
There are at least 21 burials on its territory, and one of them is in a jar. Its height is 72 centimeters, and its diameter is about 32. Based on the appearance of the vessel, it was produced in the 6th century AD.
An anthropological study of the bones showed that the jar contained the remains of at least nine people (six adults and three children).
The age of the latter was 2–4, 6–10, and 15–18 years. In six out of nine cases, scientists were also able to sequence enough ancient DNA for genome-wide analysis. Among them were four men and two women.
Genetic analysis showed that the buried are genetically close to modern Koreans.
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