In 2015, during architectural restoration works on the parish church (1831) in Gällared, Sweden, a small wooden box was discovered beneath the floorboards. Unaware of the possible significance of the box and its contents, workers on site removed its lid, revealing a piece of folded cloth. This was later found to be wrapped around fragments of human foetal remains. Although largely forgotten now, concealed interment of foetuses in, and around, churches was formally a well‐known custom in Nordic Europe. Osteological and archaeological examinations of these are rare because the containers are recognised as a form of mortuary ritual and are thus neither removed from the church nor investigated for obvious ethical reasons. The occasion of this providentially found concealed interment provided an opportunity to undertake a systematic study of the coffin and its contents prior to it being reinterred. This paper focuses on the foetal remains: their identification, assessment of age at death and the taphonomic circumstances leading to their preservation, as well as the broader insights this funerary behaviour sheds on the meanings of personhood, infant death and grief. Visual and microscopic analyses conclude that the foetus was miscarried in its first trimester, in Week 9, making it possibly one of the youngest ever reported to be recovered from an archaeological context. Examination of the skeletal elements highlights both the difficulty in ageing early‐stage archaeological foetal skeletons and the paucity of comparative foetal bone size material. The onset of ossification and the development of the mandible as ageing indicators show significant potential. Detailed examination of the wooden coffin, cotton burial shroud and insect fauna, together with an understanding of foetal body chemistry and the circumstances of interment, support the hypothesis that the bones' survival was facilitated by a process of natural mummification prior to becoming fully skeletonised by insects.

中文翻译：

---

瑞典盖拉雷德教区教堂（1831）的初生胎儿的隐蔽性：年龄估计和重构的语序

2015年，在瑞典盖拉雷德的教区教堂（1831）进行建筑修复工作期间，在地板下面发现了一个小木箱。现场工作人员不知道盒子及其内容物的潜在重要性，于是卸下盖子，露出一块折叠的布。后来发现这被包裹在人类胎儿遗体的碎片周围。尽管现在已经被人们广泛遗忘，但是在教堂内外隐藏的胎儿壁垒是北欧欧洲的一种众所周知的习俗。这些容器的考古学和考古学检查很少，因为这些容器被认为是as葬仪式的一种形式，因此既没有从教堂移走，也没有出于明显的伦理理由进行调查。这种偶然发现的掩饰之际提供了一个机会，可以在棺材被重新判刑之前对棺材及其内容物进行系统的研究。本文着重于胎儿遗体：它们的鉴定，死亡年龄的评估以及导致其保存的拓朴环境，以及这种丧葬行为对人格，婴儿死亡和悲痛的含义的更广泛见解。视觉和显微镜分析得出的结论是，胎儿在第9周的早三个月流产，使其有可能是据报道从考古环境中恢复的最年轻的胎儿。对骨骼元素的检查既突出了早期考古胎儿骨骼老化的难度，又缺乏可比较的胎儿骨大小的材料。骨化的开始和下颌骨作为衰老指标的发展显示出巨大的潜力。对木制棺材，棉质埋葬罩和昆虫动物区系的详细检查，以及对胎儿身体化学和融化情况的理解，支持了这样的假说，即在自然木乃伊化之前，骨骼的生存受到自然木乃伊化过程的促进，从而被骨骼化为骨骼。昆虫。