A new technique makes it possible to identify microscopic traces of hair and feathers and reconstruct burials with greater precision.

Archaeologists have revealed fascinating new details about Stone Age burial rituals in what is now Sweden with the discovery of a skeleton of a boy adorned in feather headdresses and fur robes.

The discoveries result from an innovative technique that identifies microscopic traces of hair and feathers preserved in the soil of ancient graves, materials that generally decompose without leaving a trace.

The research, led by scientists at the University of Helsinki, was in the journal Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences. The team analyzed 139 samples of 35 graves at Skateholm, a Late Mesolithic cemetery on the southern coast of Sweden, near the Baltic Sea, used by hunter-gatherers between 5200 and 4800 BC

Using sieving, centrifugation and microscopic analysis, researchers detected tiny particles of mammalian hair and bird feathers, along with fragments of bone, flint and charcoal. Mammal hairs were found in 20 graves, although only about a quarter of them could be identified by species, including deer, otter and cattle.

In one of the burials, a young adult male had traces of hair from various animals concentrated around his head, along with red deer teeth beads. These indications point to the hypothesis that it was buried with a headdress made from animal skin and teeth.

Feathers were even more common. At least 21 individuals showed traces of bird feathers, many from aquatic species. Their concentration around the head and neck suggests that feather caps or capes were common elements of funeral vestments. In one notable case, the soil between a child and an adult male contained deer hair and a possible woodpecker feather. This indicates that the child may have been dressed in a deerskin outfit and crowned with a feather headdress, says the .

Another grave revealed particularly personal details. The soil found around an elderly woman’s neck contained waterfowl feathers, probably the remains of a cape or feather-fringed ornament. On its heel, researchers found hairs from two different carnivores, suggesting that wore multicolored leather shoes that disintegrated over millennia.

Although the technique is still in development, researchers say that combining soil analysis with emerging methods of analyzing DNA in sediments could help improve understanding of funerary rituals lost to time.

A new technique makes it possible to identify microscopic traces of hair and feathers and reconstruct burials with greater precision.

Archaeologists have revealed fascinating new details about Stone Age burial rituals in what is now Sweden with the discovery of a skeleton of a boy adorned in feather headdresses and fur robes.

The discoveries result from an innovative technique that identifies microscopic traces of hair and feathers preserved in the soil of ancient graves, materials that generally decompose without leaving a trace.

The research, led by scientists at the University of Helsinki, was in the journal Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences. The team analyzed 139 samples of 35 graves at Skateholm, a Late Mesolithic cemetery on the southern coast of Sweden, near the Baltic Sea, used by hunter-gatherers between 5200 and 4800 BC

Using sieving, centrifugation and microscopic analysis, researchers detected tiny particles of mammalian hair and bird feathers, along with fragments of bone, flint and charcoal. Mammal hairs were found in 20 graves, although only about a quarter of them could be identified by species, including deer, otter and cattle.

In one of the burials, a young adult male had traces of hair from various animals concentrated around his head, along with red deer teeth beads. These indications point to the hypothesis that it was buried with a headdress made from animal skin and teeth.

Feathers were even more common. At least 21 individuals showed traces of bird feathers, many from aquatic species. Their concentration around the head and neck suggests that feather caps or capes were common elements of funeral vestments. In one notable case, the soil between a child and an adult male contained deer hair and a possible woodpecker feather. This indicates that the child may have been dressed in a deerskin outfit and crowned with a feather headdress, says the .

Another grave revealed particularly personal details. The soil found around an elderly woman’s neck contained waterfowl feathers, probably the remains of a cape or feather-fringed ornament. On its heel, researchers found hairs from two different carnivores, suggesting that wore multicolored leather shoes that disintegrated over millennia.

Although the technique is still in development, researchers say that combining soil analysis with emerging methods of analyzing DNA in sediments could help improve understanding of funerary rituals lost to time.