Strange pile of Stone Age skulls unearthed in Italian village baffles

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An illustration of what the Masseria Candelaro skull cache may have appeared like in the Neolithic.
(Image credit: Vicki Herring/ University of Cambridge)

Archaeologists have actually found a stack of 15 human skulls in a Neolithic town in Italy. The bones were used and broken, however there was no proof of violence, leading the scientists to think the heads were routinely managed as part of an ancient forefather routine.

Human bones are typically discovered in historical excavations of burial locations, this specific collection of skulls is distinct due to the fact that it was discovered inside a structure, Jess Thompsonan archaeologist at the University of Cambridge, informed Live Science in an e-mail.

In a research study released Nov. 13 in the European Journal of ArchaeologyThompson and coworkers composed that the skull mound was discovered at the website of Masseria Candelaro, an ancient town in the Italian province of Puglia. Radiocarbon dates from a few of the 400 bone pieces vary from 5618 to 5335 B.C., recommending the skulls were from Neolithic individuals who passed away over the period of almost 3 centuries. The majority of the skulls seemed male.

Masseria Candelaro was a little town surrounded by concentric ditches. Within the town, excavators discovered a sunken function they called Structure Q, which had layers of both domestic and routine artifacts inside. The skull cache was discovered in among the leading layers and gently covered with soil, recommending the bones were deserted instead of buried. Considered That Structure Q was not a cemetery, discovering bones there is uncommon, Thompson stated.

Due to the fact that the skulls did not have actually cut marks or other proof of violence, the research study group dismissed that these were the heads of opponents gathered as prizes. Rather, the method the skulls were broken recommended they were recovered from burials, accumulated by descendants and actively dealt with over numerous generations in some sort of forefather routine.

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Archaeologists Jess Thompson and Sofia Panella research study skull bones from Masseria Candelaro. (Image credit: John Robb/ University of Cambridge)

“We certainly think that human bone had a specific kind of meaning, and perhaps was understood to be an efficacious or potent substance, given the regularity with which it was interacted with,” Thompson stated.

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It’s uncertain what the Neolithic individuals were making with their forefathers’ bones. It might have been a sort of screen, Thompson stated, “even though we didn’t find any modifications suggesting they were suspended or attached to anything.”

In the end, the last positioning of the skulls in Structure Q was not likely to have actually been wicked. Rather, it might have been a method of “decommissioning” the effective and symbolically charged bones by taking them out of blood circulation and changing them into “ex-ancestors,” the research study group concluded.

Kristina Killgrove is a personnel author at Live Science with a concentrate on archaeology and paleoanthropology news. Her posts have actually likewise appeared in locations such as Forbes, Smithsonian, and Mental Floss. Killgrove holds postgraduate degrees in sociology and classical archaeology and was previously a university teacher and scientist. She has actually gotten awards from the Society for American Archaeology and the American Anthropological Association for her science composing.