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Perforated skulls provide evidence of craniotomy in ancient China Last Updated(Beijing Time):2007-01-26 11:11 The modern technology of craniotomy, a surgical operation which is performed on the brain through an incision in the skull, may have been in use in China nearly 3,000 years ago. Scientists made the conclusion after a detailed study of 13 perforated skulls that had been unearthed in the northwestern region of Xinjiang. The skulls were found in a cluster of more than 2,000 ancient tombs in the desert outside Turpan, 200 kilometers east of the regional capital Urumqi, said Lu Enguo, a researcher with the Xinjiang...

Plastered Syrian Skulls from the Dawn of Civilisation In the Neolithic period the Levantine Fertile Crescent ushered in one of the most profound cultural revolutions in the history of the Mediterranean basin. This environmentally blessed cradle of civilisation played host to modern humans as they made the crucial transition from hunter-gatherers to sedentary farmers to emerge as proto-urban societies. A conspicuous enigma of the world’s first ‘city dwellers’ was the most extraordinary ritual practice of plastering human skulls, which is attested at several major Neolithic sites, such as Jericho in the Palestinian Territories, Çatalhöyük in Turkey, and ‘Ain Ghazal in...

Skulls of various races discovered at ancient cemetery near Semnan TEHRAN, Nov. 7 (MNA) -- A team of Iranian archaeologists working at the Gandab ancient cemetery near the city of Semnan have unearthed skulls of various shapes during the third phase of excavations, which is currently underway at the site. The team discovered dolichocephalic (long skulls), mesocephalic (medium skulls), and brachycephalic (short-headed or broad skulls). “Humans are classified based on the shapes of their skulls, which determine the race of the ethnic groups living in a certain region. We discovered humans with long skulls, medium skulls, and short-headed (skulls), which...

9,500-year-old decorated skulls found in Syria Sun Sep 24, 4:14 PM ET DAMASCUS (AFP) - Archaeologists said they had uncovered decorated human skulls dating back as long as 9,500 years ago from a burial site near the Syrian capital Damascus. "The human skulls date back between 9,500 and 9,000 years ago, (on which) lifelike faces were modelled with clay earth ... then coloured to accentuate the features," said Danielle Stordeur, head of the joint French-Syrian archaeological mission behind the discovery. Located at a burial site near a prehistoric village, the five skulls were found earlier this month in a pit...

As an exotic dancer at Hott 22 in Union, Linda Kay's persona was that of a dark and ghoulish Goth girl. In real life, police say, her interest in the macabre was more than just an act. Officers responding to a report of a suicidal individual at Kay's South Plainfield home discovered a severed hand in a glass mason jar of formaldehyde and six skulls -- all human, according to the Middlesex County medical examiner. Kay, 31, was arrested and charged with improper disposition of human remains. She has so far refused to tell police where or how she obtained...

Mystery of the severed skulls grips China By Richard Spencer (Filed: 06/04/2006) The grisly discovery of 121 human skulls, many with their tops sawn off, has puzzled Chinese police and caused a frenzy of speculation. The skulls were found by a farmer in a forested ravine in a part of the poor north-western province of Gansu, which is inhabited by ethnic Tibetans. The skulls' discovery has led to theories of cannibalism Police have confirmed that the skulls are human and are of "recent origin", as suggested by the fact that some had skin and hair still attached. But officials have...

A woman who faced up to 15 years in prison for bringing a human skull into the United States now faces only a maximum of one year in jail. A federal prosecutor changed the charges from three felonies to one misdemeanor in a hearing in U.S. District Court in Fort Lauderdale today. Myrlene Severe now faces a misdemeanor charge of improper storage of a human body part. Severe spoke little during the hearing which lasted about two minutes, however she did quietly voice a concern to Magistrate Judge Lurana S. Snow: ``I don't have my privacy.'' The 30-year-old Miramar woman...

The toothless skull of an early human ancestor, discovered in the Republic of Georgia, may attest to evolution's oldest known example of some kind of compassion for the elderly and handicapped in society, scientists are reporting today. Other experts agreed that the discovery was significant, but cautioned that it might be a stretch to interpret the fossil as evidence of compassion. The well-preserved skull belonged to a male Homo erectus about 40 years old. All his teeth, except the left canine, were missing. The empty tooth sockets had been filled in by a regrowth of bone, the scientists said, indicating...

Jan. 27, 2004 — In a prehistoric battle for survival, Neanderthals had to compete against modern humans and were wiped off the face of the Earth, according to a new study on life in Europe from 60,000 to 25,000 years ago. The findings, compiled by 30 scientists, were based on extensive data from sediment cores, archaeological artifacts such as fossils and tools, radiometric dating, and climate models. The collected information was part of a project known as Stage 3, which refers to the time period analyzed. The number three also seems significant in terms of why the Neanderthals became extinct....

Narrow skulls clue to first Americans 11:24 04 September 03 NewScientist.com news service Skull measurements on the remains of an isolated group of people who lived at the southern tip of Mexico's Baja California has stirred up the debate on the identity of the first Americans once again. The earliest inhabitants of North America differed subtly but significantly from modern native Americans. The difference is clearly seen in the skull shapes of the first people to colonise the continent, who had longer, narrower skulls than modern people. One theory says it is because two distinct groups of people migrated to...

Skulls found in Mexico suggest the early Americans would have said 'G'day mate' By Steve Connor, Science Editor 04 September 2003 The accepted theory of how prehistoric humans first migrated to America has been challenged by a study of an ancient set of bones unearthed in Mexico. An analysis of 33 skulls found on the Mexican peninsula of Baja California suggests that the first Americans were not north Asians who crossed to the American continent about 12,000 years ago. The skulls more closely resemble the present-day natives of Australia and the South Pacific, suggesting that there might have been an...

Three fossilised skulls have been unearthed that provide the most ancient glimpse of modern humans, plug a crucial gap in the fossil record and offer the most striking evidence that the first Homo sapiens was born in east Africa. Two of the human skulls found at Herto in Ethiopia Besides the 160,000-year-old Ethiopian fossils, hailed as landmark finds from the dawn of humanity, palaeontologists also discovered more than 600 Stone Age tools, hippopotamus bones smashed to yield their marrow, and antelopes that were butchered by humans. The skulls carry cut marks that seem to indicate deliberate - ritual - mortuary...

In a discovery that several colleagues describe as "spectacular" and "extraordinary," an international team of researchers has uncovered fossils in Ethiopia that fill a crucial gap in the record of human evolution. Judged by their physical characteristics, the 160,000-year-old-fossils - nearly complete skulls of two adults and a child found near the village of Herto - teeter on the razor-thin edge of change between anatomically early and modern humans. The team also found skull pieces and teeth from seven other individuals. The discoveries dovetail with an expanding body of genetic evidence indicating that modern humans first evolved in Africa about...

Oldest human skulls found By Jonathan Amos BBC News Online science staff Three fossilised skulls unearthed in Ethiopia are said by scientists to be among the most important discoveries ever made in the search for the origin of humans. Herto skull: Dated at between 160,000 and 154,000 years old (Image copyright: David L. Brill) The crania of two adults and a child, all dated to be around 160,000 years old, were pulled out of sediments near a village called Herto in the Afar region in the east of the country. They are described as the oldest known fossils of modern...

NEAR BABYLON, Iraq (Reuters) - Iraqis uncovered on Saturday what could be a mass grave dating back to a 1991 anti-Saddam uprising, digging up dozens of bones wrapped in stained blankets and skulls with rectangles cut out of the back. Iraqis said they were looking for their sons, brothers, fathers and one mother who they said were taken from their homes in 1991 during the uprising that broke out in the aftermath of the Gulf War (news - web sites). A few said they knew of this site but had never dared to start digging with President Saddam Hussein (news...

VINTAGE SKULLS Researcher Silvia Gonzalez examines a 13,000-year-old skull. (Liverpool John Moores University) The oldest human remains found in the Americas were recently "discovered" in the storeroom of Mexico's National Museum of Anthropology. Found in central Mexico in 1959, the five skulls were radiocarbon dated by a team of researchers from the United Kingdom and Mexico and found to be 13,000 years old. They pre-date the Clovis culture by a couple thousand years, adding to the growing evidence against the Clovis-first model for the first peopling of the Americas. Of additional significance is the shape of the skulls, which are...

Friday, 10 January, 2003, 11:20 GMT Georgian skull's link to our past The skull is thought to be 1.8 million years old By Robert Parsons in Dmanisi, Georgia The moment is indelibly burned into Dato Zhvania's memory. It had been a day like any other - a day of back-breaking, painstakingly meticulous work. A day of throbbing, enervating heat. But as he sifted gingerly through the baked patch of ground before him, his fingers touched something different. The team celebrates their find His pulse quickened. The archaeological site at the medieval town of Dmanisi, 80 kilometres (50 miles) south-west of...

/media/images/38125000/jpg/_38125056_hominid300.jpg Wednesday, 10 July, 2002, 18:00 GMT 19:00 UK 'Astonishing' skull unearthed in Africa Toumai: Oldest ancestor? Image: MPFT By Ivan Noble BBC News Online science staff This is a picture of the recently unearthed human-like skull which is being described as the most important find of its type in living memory. It's the most important find in living memory Henry GeeNature It was found in the desert in Chad by an international team and is thought to be approximately seven million years old. "I knew I would one day find it... I've been looking for 25 years," said Michel...