Posted on 12/12/2015 8:47:35 PM PST by SunkenCiv
A gruesome discovery in eastern France casts new light on violent conflicts that took lives -- and sometimes just limbs -- around 6,000 years ago.
Excavations of a 2-meter-deep circular pit in Bergheim revealed seven human skeletons plus a skull section from an infant strewn atop the remains of seven human arms, say anthropologist Fanny Chenal of Antea Archáologie in Habsheim, France, and her colleagues.
Two men, one woman and four children were killed, probably in a raid or other violent encounter, the researchers report in the December Antiquity. Their bodies were piled in a pit that already contained a collection of left arms hacked off by axes or other sharp implements. Scattered hand bones at the bottom of the pit suggest that hands from the severed limbs had been deliberately cut into pieces.
It's unclear who the arms belonged to. All the Bergheim skeletons have both their arms except for a man with skull damage caused by violent blows. His skeleton lacks a left arm, the researchers say. They have been unable to determine whether that arm ended up in the pit.
Chenal's group doesn't know whether attackers targeted victims' left arms for a particular reason. The arms could have been taken as war trophies, the team speculates.
Radiocarbon dating of two bones indicates that individuals in the Bergheim pit lived roughly 6,000 years ago. From 6,500 to 5,500 years ago, during what's known as the Neolithic period, one of the many ways of disposing of the dead in farming communities throughout Central and Western Europe was in circular pits.
(Excerpt) Read more at sciencenews.org ...
Circle Of Death -- A circular pit excavated in France (left) contains the remains of eight people probably killed in a violent attack around 6,000 years ago. Seven severed left arms lay at the bottom of the pit. A diagram of the pit discoveries denotes bones of each individual in different colors. [F. Chenal Et Al/Antiquity 2015, © Bertrand Perrin/Antea (Photo)]
Disarmed Conflict -- Fractures and stone-tool incisions appear on left forearm bones from severed limbs found in a circular pit dating to 6,000 years ago. [F. Chenal Et Al/Antiquity 2015]
Dig reveals human skulls mounted on stakes (Sweden)
[about 8,000-years-old]
The Local | September 19, 2011 | David Landes
Posted on 09/20/2011 7:55:48 AM PDT by decimon
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/2781045/posts
NeolithicLivesMatter.
Today’s been an excellent day on FR for one liners. Well done.
If you like your left arm, you can keep your left arm.
“It’s a mere flesh wound.”
Those who say that life is good, often forget that it can be a nightmare for many.
Those who say that life is good, often forget that it can be a nightmare for many.
The winners of that fight are probably the ancestors of Planned Parenthood, or maybe Mohammed.
> Those who say that life is good, often forget that it can be a nightmare for many.
True, and perhaps worth repeating.
(Still most of us prefer it to unknown alternatives.)
The right to keep and bear arms goes back a long way.
That was funny bad.
Concealed arms back in the day?
Yes. Clever.
Their bodies were piled in a pit that already contained a collection of left arms hacked off by axes or other sharp implements.Evidently they needed stronger axe-control laws.
I swear to God, FReepers are some of the sickest, twisted freaks...but funny as hell.. Well done guys
They're a funny group in here... all I had come up with was an Aeneid reference, and it would have been far too dry.
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![Circle Of Death -- A circular pit excavated in France (left) contains the remains of eight people probably killed in a violent attack around 6,000 years ago. Seven severed left arms lay at the bottom of the pit. A diagram of the pit discoveries denotes bones of each individual in different colors. [F. Chenal Et Al/Antiquity 2015, © Bertrand Perrin/Antea (Photo)]](https://www.sciencenews.org/sites/default/files/2015/12/main/articles/120915_bb_death-pit_free.jpg)
![Disarmed Conflict -- Fractures and stone-tool incisions appear on left forearm bones from severed limbs found in a circular pit dating to 6,000 years ago. [F. Chenal Et Al/Antiquity 2015]](https://www.sciencenews.org/sites/default/files/sn-2015/120915_bb_death-pit-inline_free.jpg)
