Defleshed and disarticulated bones found during excavations of Scaloria Cave's upper chamber in the late 1970s. [UCLA]
Defleshed and disarticulated bones found during excavations of Scaloria Cave's upper chamber in the late 1970s. [UCLA]
Disgusting! Why?
Or...It just might have been a clan of cannibals that liked long pig for a change of pace.
Not ever skeleton was a religious sacrifice nor was every skeleton buried with weapons and personal effects a king or priest.
Well, that’s gross.
Yuck
“Uncle Guido is joining us for dinner, but don’t bother to set place”?
I’ve often wondered how the ritual of burying or cremating the dead started, or in this case, throwing the remains of the dead into a sealed cave.
The only thing I could think of was that it had to do with dreams. Neanderthals dreamed, right? I mean, even dogs dream. And Neanderthals probably understood what dreams were about just as well as present-day dogs do — that is, they didn’t understand where dreams came from at all!
So what if you were a Neanderthal and just killed your rival because you wanted to take his stuff. You left his dead body in some far away cave and went home to get a good night’s sleep. But then in the middle of the night, while you were sleeping, you saw the dead guy come into your cave, take back his stuff, and hover over you brandishing his Neolithic knife, ready to kill you!
You sit bolt upright under your deer skin, and try to fight him off. But he’s not there. But he was just there!
You’re up for the rest of the night guarding your cave against the dead guy. You vow that the first thing you’re going to do in the morning is go back to the dead guy and make sure he can never visit you again.
And what’s the best way to do that? Bury the guy’s body under six feet of earth or torch it over a very big fire!
What do you think on this slow Sunday night? Is this a plausible theory of the origins of burial and cremation of the dead? Do you have a more compelling theory?
I guess they can know what they did. I cannot figure out how they can figure out the why. Perhaps they were just not very bright.
Or cannibalism.
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.
People are capable of anything.
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.
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!
![Defleshed and disarticulated bones found during excavations of Scaloria Cave's upper chamber in the late 1970s. [UCLA]](http://news.sciencemag.org/sites/default/files/styles/thumb_article_l/public/sn-funeraryH.jpg?itok=nMEt5jsi)