Posted on 05/04/2020 8:46:14 AM PDT by SunkenCiv
...Skull binding spread across central Asia in the second century B.C., expanded into Europe around the second and third centuries A.D. and became increasingly popular in central Europe by the first half of the fifth century A.D., according to the authors...
For the new study, researchers examined 51 elongated skulls from burials in the Mözs graveyard, in what was once a Roman province known as Pannonia Valeria. The graves, 96 in all, were divided into three groups and represented three generations, from A.D. 430 until the cemetery was abandoned in A.D. 470.
The first burial group is thought to be the founding group of the cemetery, and their remains are buried in Roman-style graves. A second group is buried in a style that appears to have originated outside the region, while the third group combines burial practices that draw from Roman and other traditions.
Individuals with artificially stretched skulls were found in all three burial groups, with elongated skulls comprising around 32% of the burials in the first group; 65% in the second group; and 70% in the third group. However, variations in the location and direction of grooves in the skulls suggest that different binding techniques were used among the groups.
Analysis of isotopes, or different versions of atoms, in the bones provided more clues about where individuals in the later burials came from. Some originated near Mözs and others settled there after being displaced...
Previously, archaeologists had hypothesized that new arrivals to Pannonia Valeria settled with people who had lived there under the Romans, based on artifacts that were found in the graves; the new evidence confirms that, according to the study.
(Excerpt) Read more at livescience.com ...
Artificially deformed skull of an adult woman. Permanent binding during childhood caused the elongation of the braincase and depressions in the bone.
Image: © Balázs G. Mende. Research Centre for the Humanities, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Budapest, Hungary
Skull flattening seems to have been very widespread, more than I ever thought.
Another piece of evidence supporting my “Crazy People Did It” theory of weirdness in archaeological finds.
In a Hegelian style model, craziness is the antithesis of sanity, so, probably always been part and parcel of human behavior. But it's a pretty danged weird thing to do.
It's probably why the Germans developed aspirin, and then methadone.
According to mtDNA analysis of my genes, I am apparently the descendant of some Alan women. Since both sides of my family are originally from Normandy and Brittany, I was wondering how this could be.
It turns out that Aetius ("Last of the Romans") settled a group of Alans in what is now southern Normandy as foederati to help him keep order in Armorica (Brittany).
Hi mom!
“Is such a thing even possible?”
Post of the day winner.
It'll seem much more apropos if ya watch until the end of the clip. :^) Roxanne-- epic joke scene
Our youngest kid had a similar shaped head after the doc used a vacuum to suck her out of the womb. Quickly reshaped to normal....doesn’t seem to have held her back any. Still kid her about her pointy head.
...
Could be, moving significant numbers of various ethnic groups was something the Romans did a lot; also, ultimately, survival of a given strand of chromosome is luck of the draw.
Every time I see a skull that’s undergone “shaping”, I wonder...
What about the trigeminal nerve?
Was trigeminal neuralgia used as a “failure to adapt” elimination from the gene pool before reaching reproducing age?
Yup. That's why they're often surprising. I was expecting mainly Celt and maybe some Roman with a smattering of Viking.
What I got on the male side (in descending order) was Frank, Visigoth, Ostrogoth, Danish Viking, Saxon, Celt.
Of course genes from archaeological samples are hardly a representative sampling. But it's still fun to look at.
The doctors got the idea from their dads, who were plumbers.
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