Stone-age Italians defleshed their dead

Science Magazine ^ | March 27, 2015 | Garry Shaw

[SunkenCiv]

About 7000 years ago in Italy, early farmers practiced an unusual burial ritual known as "defleshing." When people died, villagers stripped their bones bare, pulled them apart, and mingled them with animal remains in a nearby cave. The practice was meant to separate the dead from the living, researchers say, writing in the latest issue of the journal Antiquity...

Robb and his team examined the scattered bones of at least 22 Neolithic humans -- many children -- who died between 7200 and 7500 years ago. Their remains were buried in Scaloria Cave, a stalactite-filled grotto in the Tavoliere region of southeastern Italy, where Robb says that they provide the "first well-documented case for early farmers in Europe of people trying to actively deflesh the dead."

The cave -- sealed off until its discovery in 1931 -- was uniquely able to preserve the human remains, which were mixed randomly with animal bones, broken pottery, and stone tools. This level of preservation is unusual...

Neolithic communities typically buried their dead beneath or beside their homes or on the outskirts of settlements. But in this case, farmers from villages as far as 15 to 20 kilometers away scattered the defleshed bones of their dead in the upper chamber of Scaloria Cave...

The results showed that few whole skeletons were present in the cave -- only select bones had been interred. Some of the bones had light cut marks, suggesting that only residual muscle tissue needed to be removed by the time of defleshing. That meant the remains were likely deposited as much as a year after death.

[SunkenCiv]

Thias wasn’t a Neandertal group. Burial and cremation would have been in large part an effort to alleviate the smell. Also, the disposal of human remains may have grown out of the need (eventually) to keep loved ones from being eaten by other humans; in cultures where cannibalism wasn’t practiced, it wouldn’t have done to leave remains uncovered where scavengers and part-time scavengers would be attracted to the camp or village or whatever. There have been a few cultures which practiced excarnation, that is, the deliberate exposure of the dead to aerial scavenging. There was a problem around 15 years ago with Zoroastrians in India — the specific vulture that they rely on to excarnate their dead were no longer numerous enough to get the job done, and the facility used to hold the dead was reeking to high heaven.

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

Somehow the movie EAT AND RUN comes to mind.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0090992/

[RetiredTexasVet]

Or cannibalism.

[BBell]

On Okinawa defleshing was a norm.

Tama-u-dun Mausoleum

Shuri, Okinawa

The stone mausoleum was built in 1501. Located adjacent to Shuri Castle, it is the burial place of the rulers of the second Sho dynasty, Ryukyu Kingdom of Okinawa. Sho En is the first king buried here. The mausoleum was restored after suffering heavy damage in WWII. It consists of three chambers. The bodies would be placed, initially, in the central chamber (cylindrical room, photo center) until they decomposed. After defleshing, the bones would be washed clean and moved to the left or right chamber for final burial. Kings and queens were buried in the left chamber, while other members of the royal family were buried in the right chamber.

[SunkenCiv]

Perhaps they used shishkabob sticks over the open fire, and didn’t use cooking pots.

[JimSEA]

Yeah, maybe. . . .

[SunkenCiv]

https://www.google.com/webhp?q=insects%20used%20to%20deflesh#q=insects+used+to+deflesh

[BrowningSweet16]

People are capable of anything.

[nomad]

What`d they do with the flesh? I wonder if 7000 years ago they had Fava beans and nice Chiantis?

[gleeaikin]

I may have an explanation. Just finished reading a book, “Birds Without Wings” by Louis de Bernieres which covers the period of he Balkin Wars and WW1, in and around Turkey and the failing Ottoman Empire. In the story, a woman has died and been buried, but was accused of causing the death by plague of other villagers. Bodies were typically buried 5 years and then dug up, brushed clean and the bones put into a niche in the church. In this case it was believed if the bones were clean and white the woman was innocent. The women of the village are described as crying, singing, telling poems and in general being quite emotional as the body was dug up. Could this be a remnant of a 7,000 year old custom?

The book also describes the horrors of war of that period. Everybody was killing everybody, and the atrocities committed by at least 7 or 8 peoples against others, were as gruesome as those committed by ISIL/Daesh. They included torture and rape of women and little girls, crucifixions, death marches, etc. Also, large populations were displaced. Christians of Greek ancestry were kicked out of Turkey. Turks were kicked out of Greece, and many other similar bits of insanity. Read this book if you want to better understand today’s middle east and the mess it is in.

[eastforker]

Cannibalism is quite common in the animal world, why wouldn’t ancient man do the same.Same thing with procreation. Animals do not differentiate about father/daughter, son/mother either and I doubt ancient humans did either.

[SunkenCiv]

:’) Forget it, Jake, it’s Chinatown.

[headsonpikes]

The thought that we are all the descendents of successful mass-murdering cannibals should help induce moral humility in humans.

But it doesn’t!

[Redcitizen]

What happened to the flesh?

Italian sausage on your pizza is what happened. ;)

[JimSEA]

Okay . . . . Actually, pepperoni isn’t a bad way to go. It’s in good taste.

[AppyPappy]

Kinda makes you wonder about that Boston Butt at the butchers.

[Redcitizen]

I guess we all want to be people of good taste.

[Redcitizen]

Yeah. I’ll think twice about it now when I go to the butcher shop.

[dfwgator]

Jimmy Conway: Oh, hey, Henry, Henry! Here's an arm!
Henry Hill: Very funny, guys.
Jimmy Conway: Here's a leg!
Tommy DeVito: Here's a wing!
Tommy DeVito: Hey, what do you like, the leg or the wing, Henry? Or ya still go for the old hearts and lungs?
Henry Hill: [Vomiting] Oh, that's so bad!