A relic hunter dubbed “Indiana Bones” has lifted the lid on a macabre collection of 400-year-old jewel-encrusted skeletons unearthed in churches across Europe. Art historian Paul Koudounaris has hunted down and photographed dozens of gruesome skeletons in some of the world's most secretive religious establishments. Photo: Albertus in the church of St George in Burgrain, Germany. Incredibly, some of the skeletons, which took up to five years to decorate, were even found hidden away in lock-ups and containers. (Photo by Paul Koudounaris/BNPS)

A woman views the Mummy of Meresamun in the Ashmolean Museum's new exhibition of artifacts from ancient Egypt and Nubia on November 23, 2011 in Oxford, England. The new gallery is displaying for the first time in decades some of the finest Egyptian and Nubian artifacts in the UK. The Egyptian collection opens to the public from November 26, 2011. (Photo by Oli Scarff/Getty Images)

A gold miner observes from the distance how some women miners work at an open-pit gold mine in Nyarugusu, Geita Region, Tanzania on May 27, 2022. Tanzania is a land rich in minerals and one of the main gold producers in Africa, with gold representing more than 90% of the country's mineral exports. Artisanal and small-scale gold mining have culturally and historically relegated women's participation. The extractive sector in Tanzania has historically been a male-dominated industry with high levels of harassment, sеxual abuse, discrimination and misconceptions over women's involvement, and contributions following traditional beliefs. (Photo by Luis Tato/AFP Photo)

In this Tuesday, March 20, 2018 photo, a Vampire Bat drinks bovine blood in the Criaturas de la Noche (Creatures of the Night) Bat House, the Audubon Zoo's new night house in New Orleans. The various species are all from Central and South America, and the building's interior simulates an abandoned warehouse set up to protect Mayan artifacts during a dig. (Photo by Gerald Herbert/AP Photo)

Kelsey Smith of New Zealand gets her stick caught on the shorts of Hollie Pearne-Webb of England during Women's Semi Final Hockey match between England and New Zealand on day eight of the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games at Gold Coast Hockey Centre on April 12, 2018 on the Gold Coast, Australia. (Photo by Matt King/Getty Images)

Tim Klingender, Director of Aboriginal Art at Sotheby's hangs the painting “Emu Corroboree Man” by Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri before a record auction of Aboriginal Art July 14, 2005 in Sydney, Australia. The painting is expected to fetch AUD 150,000 – 250,000 (USD 120,000 – 200,000). Sotheby's unveiled a selection of Aboriginal art and artifacts after a tour of New York and London, which will go to auction in Melbourne July 25 2005. The total pre-sales estimate of the collection is AUD 6 million – 8.5 million (USD 5 million – 7 million). (Photo by Ian Waldie/Getty Images)

A woman in costume of the Prosperity and Wealth God wears a protective face mask at a gold shop in Hanoi, Vietnam, Monday, February 3, 2020. It is a tradition for many Vietnamese to buy gold on the tenth day of the lunar new year – the day of Prosperity and Wealth God, for good luck. (Photo by Hau Dinh/AP Photo)