77 headless skeletons found in a field date back 7,000 years
Popular Science...
It sounds like a scene out of a horror movie. Dozens of headless human skeletons resting in a single grave. First discovered in 2022, this Neolithic burial site near the present-day town of Vráble, Slovakia, raises significantly more questions than it answers. Was this the site of a grisly massacre 7,000 years ago? Were the individuals sacrificed? Is it the result of some kind of plague?
A new study published in the journal Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society points to a more skillful removal of skulls as part of an unknown ritual, instead of a violent decapitation by an enemy.
The large Neolithic settlement at Vráble is one of the most important excavation sites of the Linear Pottery culture (LBK) in Central Europe. The LBK first arose around 5500 BCE and lasted until roughly 4500 BCE. Archaeologists consider the LBK one of Europe’s earliest farming cultures that moved along the transition from a hunter-gatherer lifestyle to more settled agricultural communities.
Researchers from Kiel University in Germany and the Slovakian Academy of Sciences in Nitra have been investigating the region since 2012. The site is made up of the outlines of over 300 former houses in three neighborhoods. The settlement existed for several centuries between roughly 5250 and 4950 BCE. One of the neighborhoods was surrounded by a ditch that archaeologists believe served as a border.
After finding sporadic human remains in early digs, the team found the remains of at least 78 individuals at the entrance to the settlement. The skeletons were not in any discernible order and 77 of them lacked a head. The team only found one skeleton of a child with a preserved skull. The initial evidence suggests that not a lot of time passed between death and internment.
“The features clearly exhibit an intentional manipulation of the bodies,” Dr. Katharina Fuchs, a study co-author and biological anthropologist at Kiel University, said in a statement. “First analyses suggest, above all, that violent ‘decapitations’ were not conducted here, but rather skilful removals of the skulls.”
The meaning behind this skull-removing practice is still up for debate. One thought is that the heads may have been stored separately. This burial practice has not been verified at Vráble, but did occur in other cultures. However, the details of the practices differ greatly between peoples.
The team believes that this arrangement of body parts may have been one part of a more complex and meaningful practice.
“We must assume that these practices were embedded in completely different contexts of meaning than those of modern societies,” added study co-author and archeologist Martin Furholt. “This is what makes an interpretation of them so challenging.”
Multiple researchers are currently sorting the recovered bones to determine the age at the time of death and biological sexes, and analyzing the cutting marks in more detail. Future studies on the possible impacts of violence and forensic investigations into the decomposition processes are also underway. Additional isotope and DNA analyses should also open a window into the origins, diet, and kinship ties of the Neolithic individuals buried at Vráble.
“But the first results already show that Vráble is an exceptional excavation site,” said Furholt. “It provides us with the keys for the discussion of fundamental questions, for example, how were death and the body understood in the Neolithic and what role did the associated practices play in the social fabric of early farming societies?”
The post 77 headless skeletons found in a field date back 7,000 years appeared first on Popular Science.