Oldest Case of Decapitation In the New World – Lapa do Santo, East-Central Brazil
AncientPages.com - An international team of researchers led by André Strauss of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany, presents evidence for a 9,000 year-old case of human decapitation that has been found in the rock shelter of Lapa do Santo in east-central Brazil in 2007.
Lapa do Santo, located in east-central Brazil, contains evidence of human occupation dating back to ~12,000 years ago.
Remains of a ceremonial burial: The images show the shape of the burial pit (left) and the arrangement of the hands over the skull (right). © Danilo Bernardo
Apparently this kind of practice is much older than previously thought and not restricted to the western fringe of the continent.
Aerial view of the massif in which the rock shelter is located; doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0137456.g007
In 2007, fragments of buried body including cranium, jaw, the first six cervical vertebrae, two amputated hands and v-shaped cut marks on the jaw and sixth cervical vertebra were discovered at the site in Burial 26.
Researchers dated the remains back to approximately 9,000 years ago using accelerator mass spectrometry.
Arrangement of the cervical vertebrae. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0137456.g007
The right hand laid over the left side if the face with finger bones pointing to the chin.
The left hand laid over the right side of the face with distal phalanges (finger bones) pointing to the forehead.
Schematic representation of Burial 26 from Lapa do Santo. Drawing by Gil Tokyo. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0137456.g005
Researchers suggest a ritualized decapitation of the body that indicates the sophistication of mortuary rituals among hunter-gatherers in the Americas during the early Archaic period.
In the apparent absence of wealth goods or elaborated architecture, Lapa do Santo’s inhabitants seemed to use the human body to express their cosmological principles regarding death.
AncientPages.com
source: PLOS ONE
More From Ancient Pages
-
Unique Ancient Coast Salish War Club Accidently Discovered In British Columbia Backyard
-
Aqrabuamelu – Mysterious Scorpion Men In Babylonian Mythology
-
Fossilized Remains Of A Gigantic Jurassic Pterosaur Unearthed In Oxfordshire, UK
-
Skull Reveals Little Foot Was Capable Of Different Head Movements Than Modern Humans
-
Bronze Age Roundhouses And Roman-Era Settlement Discovered In Newquay, Cornwall
-
Ancient Mystery Of The American Southwest – Secrets Of The Cliff Dwellers – Part 1
-
Painted Komkom Vase With Longest Hieroglyphic Text Unearthed In Belize
-
Who Is Secretly Keeping A Watching Eye On Tibetan Monasteries?
-
Intriguing Sumerian Clay Tokens – An Ancient ‘Book Keeping’ System Used Long After Writing Appeared
-
The Hitra Man Lived In A Turbulent Time – Was He A Stone Age Warrior?
-
Archaeologists Unearthed Alabaster Statue Of Queen Tiye In Luxor, Egypt
-
Trajan’s Column – A Roman Triumphal Column In Ancient Rome
-
Unraveling The Mystery Of A Lost Biblical Underground World – Is A Precious Ancient Artifact The Answer?
-
Impressive 9,000-Year-Old Stone Mask Uncovered In Southern Hebron Hills, Israel
-
Archaeologists Reveal 12 Exciting Finds From The Gjellestad Viking Ship Dig
-
Nearly 2,000-Year-Old Aqueduct Discovered Near Ancient Monastery Khor Virap In Armenia
-
Rare Neolithic Underwater Textiles And Dwellings Discovered At La Marmotta Near Rome
-
Incredible Anatomical Human Machines – Two Fleshless Bodies Mystery
-
Partial Skull Fossils Found In China Could Be A New Species -‘A Kind Of Unknown Or New Archaic Human’, Researcher Says
-
On This Day In History: Great Fire Of Rome Recorded – On July 18, 64 AD
