Posted on 08/15/2008 11:10:38 AM PDT by SunkenCiv
Archaeologists have discovered three 9,000-year-old skulls at the Yiftah'el dig in the Lower Galilee, the Israel Antiquities Authority announced Wednesday. Experts said the placement of the skulls confirms the worship of ancestors from during that time, practiced by displaying skulls inside houses.
The skulls were apparently placed on benches in a house where they would inspire the younger generation to continue in the ways of their forefathers. A similar custom was also identified in Syria, Turkey and Jordan.
The skulls are 8,000-9,000 years old and were buried in a pit adjacent to an excavated large public building. They were discovered during excavations for a new highway interchange at the Movil Junction, a major intersection.
"The skulls were found plastered -- that is to say sculpted -- which is a phenomenon that is identified with the New Stone Age," said site director Dr. Hamoudi Khalaily. "The practice included the reconstruction of all of the facial features of the deceased by means of sculpting the skull with a variety of materials such as plaster that was specifically intended for this. On the skulls that were found in the excavation the nose was entirely reconstructed."
The pit where the skulls were found showed depressions that probably were used for graves underneath floors.
(Excerpt) Read more at israelnationalnews.com ...
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I'm done for the day. This is probably the last topic for this week's Digest, but if not, pings will happen early tomorrow. |
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Shadrach, Meshach and Abendigo?
I think that took place in Babylon.
See? Good booze is a preservative. :-)
They found 9,000 in the last year? Is it a new killing field?
How do we know that? Maybe they were just being used as paperweights!
Yeah but maybe the skulls were attracted to the Ark so Indiana Jones can Search for the Skulls of the Lost Ark of the Temple.
According to Muslim theorists, these skulls are simply proto-Palestinians who lived in the area way before the Jews arrived to steal the land in 1948.
What you said. How do they know the skulls weren’t placed there as a warning? “This is what we did to your siblings for not marrying the right people, and we’ll do it to you if you don’t mind us!”
Maybe decorating with skulls was simply all the fashion in those days. The more skulls you have, the fancier your home.
Actually I'm only being partly facetious. People interpret the significance of a lot of ancient items based on no real knowledge of what they meant to the people at the time. For instance, I once read a discussion about the significance of the small statuettes of large-breasted women that are assumed to be fertility symbols. But in fact, we really don't know that's what they were, for all anyone knows they were ancient porn.
Earlier. Adam, Eve and Caine.
More likely to be used as door stops than paperweights.
Apparently?
Maybe they were placed there by what we now term a serial killer who wanted to be close to his victims, and to further inspire his work....
Ya know, I could see placing jimmy Carter’s and the Clinton’s skulls in the West Wing as a warning to others.
And thus all the "nose" adages came to be.
This was fun, but it is back to grindstone for me...
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