Every polish has its own way of sell with death , some of which can appearpretty strangeto an foreigner . But as death rite go , the Stone Age sepulture on the Orkney Islands must be up there with the most bizarre and grisly .
A sketch on tombs in the Orkney Islands , off the northeast coast of Scotland , has found grounds that suggests the Neolithic island-dweller mutilated the clay of their ascendant by rip off their flesh and mix in the stiff of their chopped bones in heap graves like a gory pick ' n ' mixture bag of human remains .
The study of the macabre death rituals , led by Dr Rebecca Crozier of the University of the Philippines , was recently published in theJournal of Archaeological Science .
archaeologist conducted forensic reanalysis of over 12,275 pearl fragment from two disjoined tombs at Quanterness and Quoyness that date back to the Neolithic period , between 2,400 BCE and 4,000 BCE .
A humerus bone showing unparalleled signs of trauma , suggestive of scrapes . R Crozier / Journal of Archaeological Science .
A previous subject of the fragments had concluded that the bones had been burn or buried until the flesh was decomposed . However , Dr. Crozier believes the mien of some 40 dents , 19 chop marks and three scrape marks on the bones hint there was some manikin of wild and fighting taking apart . After the body were dismembered , they were then mixed together with other bodies in a mass grave .
But what would drive people to do this to fellow member of their house or community ?
Dr. Crozier suggests it was “ an verbal expression of shared ancestral belonging . ” She believes that the practice was a unconscious process of linking the individual to the across-the-board collective grouping .
The flesh was apparently hack off to ensure that all of the bodies were at a similar point of decomposition . The study explain : “ Rate of decay may be tempt by situations ranging from , for model , the manner of death to the sentence of twelvemonth . Therefore , death , and more specifically bodily decay , would have posed a serious challenge to the Neolithic Orcadians ' power to bring down social organisation upon their populace . ”
The Orkney Islands are a treasure bureau for archaeologists hoping to gain perceptivity into the life of the other settlers of the British Isles . The archipelago of islands hold back 72 known tombs , which date back to over 5,500 years ago . Among its many ancient delight is the “ Ring of Brodgar ” , a 104 - meter ( 341 - foot ) wide circle of Brobdingnagian stone megaliths that could go steady back as early as 2,500 BCE .
It seems the Neolithic Orkney Island settlers were n’t the only ancient Britons doing strange thing to their stagnant ancestors . Other subject have found that ancient Scottish islander used to fume dead bodies , chop up their corpse , thencobble the bodies back togetherfrom a melange of different people .
A fragment of a abject jaw bone depict a fracture and scrape marks . R Crozier / Journal of Archaeological Science .
