Fig 1.
Burials in situ at the cemetery in Wtórek, Greater Poland, Poland.
At the top, stone pavement covering the grave 886. In the middle row—well-preserved graves 501 and 528, and at the bottom—poorly preserved burial 845 and very badly preserved burial 618.
Fig 2.
Various forms of depositing burnt human remains and grave goods consisting of metal artefacts.
Metal items covering the burnt bones in the urn from burial 506 (A), 544 (B), 578 (C), the bones of the skull vault located in the top layer of the urn from grave 537 (D), and fragments of the shafts and epiphyses of long bones located in the upper-most layers of the urns from graves 858 (E) and 722 (F).
Fig 3.
Diagram of the direction of mechanical exploration and the order of nomenclature of individual layers of the urn fills.
Fig 4.
Identified remains of a rodent of the genus Microtus sp. in the urn from burial 853.
The right and left humerus of the vole in the anterior and medial plane.
Fig 5.
Insect remains identified in the urns.
Desiccated larva from the urn from burial 504 (A), fragments of Geotrupes stercorarius from the urn from burial 506 (B), desiccated larva from the urn from burial 507 (C), a fragment of an adult beetle from the family Staphylinidae from the urn from burial 533 (D), head of an adult beetle Harpalus flavescens from the urn from burial 542 (E), head of a beetle larva of the genus Harpalus sp. from the urn from burial 599 (F), remains of an adult beetle Anisodactylus nemorivagus from the urn from the burial 615 (G).
Table 1.
Identified macrofaunal remains from various exploration levels (layers) within the urns from the Lusatian culture cemetery in Wtórek, Greater Poland, Poland.
Fig 6.
SEM imaging of Geotrupes stercorarius insect remains from the urn originating from burial 506.
Right elytron covered with sediment (A, B, C), left elytron with sediment cleaned off (D, E) and the surface structure of the elytron of the modern reference insect (F).
Fig 7.
The results of the SEM-EDS elemental composition tests of two samples from Geotrupes stercorarius beetle coming from the urn from burial 506 (samples A and B) and the reference sample of a modern insect. Sample A consists of right elytron covered with sediment, sample B consists of left elytron with cleaned off sediment, and sample C represents the modern insect.
Table 2.
The results of the SEM-EDS elemental composition analysis measured at individual points on samples A and B (remains of Geotrupes stercorarius from the urn from burial 506) and sample C (modern Geotrupes Stercorarius).
The measurement points for each sample correspond to the individual plots shown in Fig 6.
Fig 8.
The textile pseudomorph of the woollen cloth from the urn from burial 506.
Identified in SEM imaging woollen fabric fragments were preserved as textile pseudomorph located on the underside of one of the jewellery pieces that had been placed over the cremated bones of a newborn.
Fig 9.
The results of CT imaging of the fills of the urn from graves 557 and 528.
In the upper row, fragments of the skull vault bones are visible in the upper part of the fill of the urn from grave 557; the arrows and the brown colour mark the identifiable fragments of the parietal bones and the right zygomatic bone. In the lower row, the urn from grave 528 and the visualization of metal objects in MIP reconstruction and their actual appearance during the exploration.
Fig 10.
The results of CT imaging of the fill of the urn from grave 507.
In the top row, MinIP reconstructions of the urn fill; the arrows mark a fragment of the disappearing corridor and the nest chamber of a beetle of the genus Geotrupes sp. as well as the disappearing rodent burrow. At the bottom, the VR reconstruction of the arrangement and location of metal items in the urn and their actual appearance during the exploration.
Fig 11.
Examples of metal-related artifacts in CT slices of the urns from graves 528 and 548.
The upper two rows show the fill of the urn from grave 528, in which the presence of iron ornaments made it impossible to visualize traces of soil fauna activity. Artefacts are visible in the form of bright and dark streaks interfering with the reading of the imaging itself. The lower row shows artefacts of a similar type that were recorded in the CT imaging of the fill of urn 548. In this case, it was possible to identify a disappearing rodent burrow (black arrows), in which there is now a piece of metal that has been displaced significantly above its original position.
Fig 12.
The CT imaging of the fill of the urn from grave 877.
The top row shows the MinIP reconstruction of the urn fill with a visible system of burrows and ingrown plant roots. At the bottom, the MIP reconstruction of the displaced upwards and mixed burnt bones.
Table 3.
Characteristics of the traces of macrofaunal activity observed in the CT scans and taxonomic identification of particular bioturbations.
Fig 13.
The imaging the urn B from grave 632 in order to accentuate the complexity of the elements of the fill.
The MIP reconstruction shows an additional vessel placed over the burnt bones, while in the CT slices individual nest chambers of Geotrupes stercorarius are visible, and in the MinIP reconstruction, a part of the dung beetle nest is visualized (top row). At the bottom—the VR reconstruction, which contains all the components of the fill, including metal ornaments, and the VR reconstruction highlighting the complexity and state of preservation of the G. stercorarius nest filling up the urn.
Fig 14.
The CT imaging of the fill of the urn from grave 485 and the fill of the additional vessel from grave 600.
At the top, the visualization of the urn fill from grave 485 with a preserved corridor of an insect of the genus Harpalus sp. and a disappearing nest of a beetle of the genus Geotrupes sp. At the bottom, the imaging of the interior of the additional vessel from grave 600 with an earthworm tunnel and an aestivation chamber of a different species of earthworm marked with arrows.
Fig 15.
The CT imaging of the fill of the urn from grave 599.
At the top, the MinIP and MIP reconstructions of the urn with a visible corridor of an insect of the genus Harpalus sp. At the bottom, the location of the corridor filled with Setaria sp. caryopses and the caryopses deposit identified during the spit exploration of the urn.