We know a lot of strange things from the Middle Ages, animal amulets, witches, tunics, or secret orders of knights, but in some cases burials were also very secretive.
Here, for example, the early Middle Ages bury the bed, when the dead man was lowered to the ground with his entire bed. In Europe, two types of beds were used for burial: railroad beds, which resemble sofas, and box beds, which resembled boxes.
One of the most famous examples of a chest bed was found by archaeologists in the Norwegian city of Oseberg, dating back to 834. Two women were buried in a chest bed with highly ornate headboards. Archaeologists have found many evidence of family burials in Europe, for example in Slovakia, Scandinavia and neighboring Germany, but also in Great Britain. Researchers already know a total of 72 burial beds, and suspect that the cult of the dead spread to Europe from Egypt, which has always been very interested in the cult of the dead. The youngest deceased person buried in his bed was a boy from Bavaria between the ages of two and four years.
The Slovak find, Poprad-Matejovce’s tomb, is the oldest, dating back to the 5th century. But examples of family burials have also been found in Osseberg, Norway, where the skeletons of two women were discovered buried on specially decorated beds. The last known funerary monument from the 10th century also comes from Norway.
In Britain VII. century, the custom appeared, probably brought to the island by women who wanted to spread Christianity. The peculiarity of the finds found in Trompington near Cambridge was that small crosses were always placed on the deceased, of foreign origin, in burials on the bed.
Burial with objects was more common than burial in bed, which always reflected social status. Warriors were buried with their weapons and in full armor and high-ranking people with their ornaments and jewels. Later, these objects were gradually abandoned, and the tombs were grouped around a religious building in a place designed for this purpose: tombs.
