Posted on 11/25/2005 4:07:31 PM PST by blam
Bus stop an execution site … 1500 years ago
By Richard Macey
November 26, 2005
Allen Madden and Dr Denise Donion of the University of Sydney with Octavia Man. Photo: Edwina Pickles
HIS crime will probably never be known. But "he sure trod on someone's toes", said Allen Madden, cultural and heritage officer for the Metropolitan Local Aboriginal Land Council.
In January, when EnergyAustralia workers laying cables in Ocean Street, Narrabeen, found human bones beneath a bus stop, they called police.
The remains have since been identified as those of an Aborigine who died up to 1500 years ago. Next week the annual conference of the Australian Archaeological Association in Fremantle will hear vivid details of his life and gruesome death.
Octavia Man, so named because he was found near the corner of Ocean and Octavia streets, was executed - repeatedly speared and then axed - said Jo McDonald, a Canberra archaeologist who, with Sydney University researchers, has pieced together his last moments.
"We think he was between 30 and 40, a big muscular man," about 1.8 metres tall," she said. "He had perfect teeth."
Arthritis in his elbow probably resulted from years of hunting with spears. One of 14 stone barbs found with his bones was a tool, for piercing or slicing skin, that he carried in his hair.
But the 13 others had a darker purpose, once tipping the heads of multi-barbed "death spears".
Dr McDonald, who runs a consultancy, Jo McDonald Cultural Heritage Management, realised something was amiss when the rest of the skeleton was found intact, from the waist up, under 1.5 metres of sand. " He had not been respectfully buried. His left arm was flung across his neck and his head was 40 centimetres off to the side."
Four barbs were embedded in Octavia Man's spine. Another was found with bone residue near his skull, which was missing "a triangular chunk".
"This person was ritually speared. One spear went into the stomach from the left side, just above the blade of the hip bone. It probably passed through the large intestine and the bottom of the left kidney."
The second spear, from behind, lodged in his spinal column. The third punctured his skull. A stone axe "finished him off" with a blow to his head. His body was then partially burnt.
While spearing was a punishment in Aboriginal culture, Dr McDonald said, "first offenders" were usually just wounded.
Two healed depressed fractures in the man's skull hinted it was not the first time he had been physically punished. The three attacks suggested the man was "a repeat offender".
She believed it was the first direct evidence of execution by spearing in pre-European Aboriginal culture found. "It's incredibly important."
Mr Madden, whose land council requested the dig to recover all the man's remains, agreed he was put to death. "Speared three times, bashed and burnt - he must have been disliked. It sounds like payback."
Dr McDonald said the discovery showed Sydney's pre-European history was still just below the surface, waiting to be found. "People should be aware these things can survive, and that archaeology can reveal remarkable stories."
GGG Ping.
Sounds like Islam was practiced in Australia almost 1500 years ago.
Wow!! 1500 years ago they had mass transit and this is as far as we have progressed.
This blatant speculation is comical. There's no chance the guy tripped and hit his head on something, or any of dozens of other possible explanations for the first two injuries. They're sure he was "punished", and therefore a "repeat offender"? Get serious, guys.
Hmmmm. This was about the same time as the worldwide affecting Dark Ages.
"Deeeeeaaad Men...tell...No...Tales."
Another outrage perpetrated by white Europeans! Oh, wait...AD 500? ...
Actually, it was the perfect teeth, that I thought was odd.
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You are exactly right.
Maybe he was a warrior and the previous injuries were from combat.
Maybe he got captured by the enemy and they hadn't heard about the Geneva Convention.
It's Bush's fault.
Look for a plastic Wal-Mart bag nearby.
The guy sounds like he was some sort of royalty--muscular, 30-40 years old, perfect teeth...he's just missing the royal crown for his off-center head.
But if only they had let him live . . . he might have gone on to write children's books.
And the lethal injuries could well have been the result of an ambush. That's at least as likely as the "repeat offender" crap.
Exactly -- just like those stories they wrap around findings
on the Discovery Channel.
Ping
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