Posted on 02/16/2011 3:40:26 PM PST by decimon
Ancient Britons were not averse to using human skulls as drinking cups, skeletal remains unearthed in southwest England suggest.
The braincases from three individuals were fashioned in such a meticulous way that their use as bowls to hold liquid seems the only reasonable explanation.
The 14,700-year-old objects were discovered in Gough's Cave, Somerset.
Scientists from London's Natural History Museum say the skull-cups were probably used in some kind of ritual.
"If you look around the world there are examples of skull-cups in more recent times - in Tibetan culture, in Fiji in Oceania, and in India," said Dr Silvia Bello, a palaeontologist and lead author of a scientific paper on the subject in the journal PLoS One.
"So, skulls have been used as drinking bowls, and because of the similarity of the Gough's Cave skulls to these other examples, we imagine that that's what these ancient people were using them for also," she told BBC News.
(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.co.uk ...
Sir Iain Moncreiffe of that Ilk in his book The Highland Clans has a photo of the skull of one of the Earls of Moray (15th century I think), mounted in silver with acorns for feet, used by his descendants as a drinking bowl. He deadpans, "But, as it tends to leak, it's better for keeping nuts on the sideboard."
Those Moray were a bunch of eels. ;-)
Oopsie! BBC not wishing to reveal ‘uncivilized’ British past, ahem*
Here is another story by those wicked Canadians!!!
http://www.montrealgazette.com/Cannibal+Britons+drank+from+skulls/4295928/story.html
“...
suggests ancient Britons indulged in cannibalism and drank from the skulls of their victims.”
Well, I’m sure they washed them first.
Oh yeah, we sang “The Bonnie Eel of Moray” to the eel in the Bermuda Aquarium back when we first got married.
History of genteel practice of tea time in Merry old England.
First stage. Favorite cannibal beverage in skull is some sort of boiled leaves.
Second stage: New favorite beverage in skull becomes tea.
Third stage: Skull replaced with bone China..
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