Gilded Warrior’s Tomb Discovered During Construction of an Expressway in Romania

Construction workers in Romania uncovered the tomb of a 5th century warrior and a cache of gilded artifacts, including an ornate dagger encrusted with jewels, while building the A7 Expressway that will run through eastern Romania, according to Live Science.

The tomb is one of four archeological sites that were discovered during construction.

Along with the warrior’s complete skeleton, archeologists found remains of his horse, a gold covered saddle, an iron sword, arrowheads, pieces of gold jewelry, and a golden mask that likely once covered the warrior’s face, Silviu Ene of the Vasile Pârvan Institute of Archeology in Bucharest told Live Science.

Ene and his colleagues told the publication Hungry Post English that, while the warrior’s ethnicity was not immediately clear, “we can assume that he lived under Hun rule.” The most well-known of the tribal, horse-riding nomads is Attila the Hun, who with his armies plagued both the Eastern and Western Roman Empire in the mid-5th century.

According to Live Science, the excavation was carried out under difficult conditions in poor weather. Flashlights often provided the sole form of illumination during the excavation.

Ene told Live Science that the dig is roughly halfway complete. In the near future, the bones and artifacts will be cleaned, researched, and put on public display. The tomb itself will ultimately be covered by the expressway.