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Archaeologists have found the skulls and jaws of 15 people in the mound of what was once a Stone Age village.
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Experts believe that the skulls were used as part of the ritual and may have been reused for centuries.
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The skull was dated to around 5,400 BC
The search for a single skull is terrifying. Finding two skulls is scary. Looking for 15 skulls? That’s right, let’s say, bone-chilling.
So keep in mind that a group of archaeologists found a pile of skulls and jawbones from about fifteen people at the site of the Neolithic village of Masseria Candelaro, located in what is now Puglia, Italy. In a study published in European Journal of Archaeologythe group wrote believing that the skulls may have been collected over a period of nearly 300 years and used in some form of ancestral culture.
At an archaeological site, bones were found inside an ancient building called Structure Q. Due to some pieces of artefacts found next to the bones, experts said the site is between 5500 and 5400 BC, although the dating of about 400 bone fragments showed that from 5618 BC to 5335 BC, indicating that more than three bones had been collected. centuries of death and represented up to eight generations of ancestors.
The discovery of skulls inside a building and not a cemetery was a unique discovery, Jess Thompson, an archaeologist at the University of Cambridge, said. Live Science. Furthermore, they were found only under the topsoil, indicating that they were abandoned and not buried. The researchers concluded that “Stucture Q was probably a multi-functional site that was later repurposed for ritual use.”
The long period of time that the cranial cache represents shows, according to the study, “a collection that was constantly changing” and that endured the practice of use. This may help provide answers to the “promoters of cranial bone restoration” and how contact with the bones may have played an important role in humans’ relationship with their ancestors.
The skulls, which were considered male, had no signs of violence, meaning they were probably not war trophies. However, there were broken bones, consistent with being removed from the grave and being touched several times. “Certainly we think that the human bone had a specific meaning,” said Thompson, “and was probably understood as something functional or powerful, given the familiarity with which it was used.”
The authors assume that the final resting place of the bones marks not the final culture, but the end of their cultural use and they are placed there as a type of “post-use-life decommissioning.”
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