The jewellery piece was found in a tomb by a team of archaeologists from the French national institute of archaeological research, Institut National de Recherches Archéologiques Préventives (Inrap), during a recently completed excavation in Lavau, northern France.
The tomb, which was believed to have dated back to the early fifth century BC, contained the skeletal remains of what appeared to be a prince or princess adorned in jewellery.
The gold necklace that was among these items was said to weigh more than 500 grams and to be “richly decorated with the double motif of a winged monster, extended by pear-shaped stamps”.
In addition, the corpse also had gold bracelets on its wrists and a lignite armlet on its left bicep. Archaeologists suggested that several amber beads found near the corpse’s head had either formed an additional necklace or a hair decoration.
It was noted that such funerary treasures belonged to the “highest classes of society” at the time.
Although the corpse had been dubbed “the prince of Lavau”, an Inrap statement explained that due to the poor preservation of the bones, there was a possibility that the remains could have belonged to a female.
These additional details are expected to come to light once a complete biological anthropological study of the corpse has taken place.
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