Posted on 07/17/2009 7:54:56 PM PDT by JoeProBono
For men of the ancient Zapotec civilization, ancestral thighbones may have been carried as status symbols.
Based on centuries-old stone carvings in southern Mexico, archaeologists had long suspected that Zapotec men brandished human femurs.
"The thought was that the femurs are those of the ancestors of the rulers, serving like staffs of office or symbols of legitimacy," explained archaeologist Gary Feinman of the Field Museum in Chicago.
Now grave excavations have confirmed the practice, according to a new study. What's more, it seems that commoners got a leg up too.
Flourishing from about 500 B.C. to A.D. 1000 in the Valley of Oaxaca, the Zapotec were contemporaries of the ancient Maya and Aztec.
Men dressed in the traditional costume of a Zapotec woman walk during a parade in the town of Juchitan in southern Mexico.
Is that your great-grandpa’s femur in your pocket or are you just happy to see me?
bump
A definate multi-use mechanism. Works wonders on a man’s head.
"Honey, back in the day, you woulda been held up as a symbol of royalty"
Didn’t Sampson kill hundreds of enemy warriors with the jawbone of a Democrat?
Those are men?
Then again, they may have been taken from an enemy or predecessor, and were used as a warning to anyone else who might get feelings of uppitiness.
IIRC, this practice dates clear back to King Guzzle (or,perhaps I'm confusing him with his Grand Wizer) in the Kingdom of Moo. I'll have to check with Doc Wonmug, to refresh my memory.
|
|||
Gods |
Thanks GeronL and ApplegateRanch. |
||
· Discover · Nat Geographic · Texas AM Anthro News · Yahoo Anthro & Archaeo · Google · · The Archaeology Channel · Excerpt, or Link only? · cgk's list of ping lists · |
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.