6 thousand years ago, ancient people cleaned and dismembered corpses - archaeologists (photo)
Archaeologists in Spain have found evidence that ancient people cleaned and dismembered corpses about 6000 years ago. Scientists assume that this was part of a funeral ritual that was intended to accelerate the decomposition of the corpse or to worship the bones.
The researchers described the new findings from tombs in Los Zumacales and La Cabaña in a study published on December 1 in the International Journal of Osteoarchaeology, Live Science reports.
According to the researchers, 70% to 90% of the bones were broken, including the bones of the hands. The fractures were caused by "a perpendicular force on fresh bone". Some of the bones also showed impact marks, indicating the use of a blow or punch. V-shaped marks were also found, probably made by people who used stone tools to skin the dead.
Scientists speculate that the fractures and cuts were part of a ritualistic ceremony that took place immediately after death. Perhaps this practice was "aimed at speeding up the decomposition of the corpse when necessary," said Angelica Santa Cruz, an archaeologist at the University of Valladolid in Spain. Also, some of these bones could have been worshipped as funerary objects or relics.
However, the researchers could not rule out the possibility that people were engaged in funeral cannibalism. Consumption of the meat of the deceased is an ancient human behavior, with many cases found in northwestern Europe, particularly during the Upper Paleolithic period (35,000-10,000 years ago).
The fracture patterns on the bones at Los Zumacales, in particular, may reflect funerary cannibalism - also called endocannibalism or anthropophagy - but "such a statement should be made with great caution," the authors write in the study.
Given the new information, Santa Cruz and study co-author Javier Velasco-Vazquez of the Historical Heritage Service of Gran Canaria, Spain, suggest that similar studies of bones from other tombs in the area are needed to better understand the variety of funerary practices that took place at these sites.
As a reminder, the world's oldest bronze casting molds dating back to 200 BC were discovered in Japan.
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