You watch. Traces of depleted uranium and President Bush's thumb print will be discovered. :-)Posted on 04/14/2007 8:30:28 AM PDT by blam
Posted on Fri, Apr. 13, 2007
4600-year-old skulls from Iraq to get CT scan
Ron Todt
The Associated Press
PHILADELPHIA - A pair of 4,600-year-old skulls from Iraq will be given a CT scan that promises to reveal the faces of two of the dozens of sacrificial victims found decades ago in the remains of an ancient Sumerian city.
The procedure will be done Sunday at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania on the skulls of a young woman adorned with gold ornaments and a man wearing a copper helmet, both found in the southern Iraq city of Ur in the 1920s and 1930s.
Archaeologists from the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology excavating the Royal Tombs of Ur found a "Great Death Pit" with the bodies of 74 sacrificial victims. Smaller tombs contained other bodies, believed to be those of royal retainers.
The woman's skull was found in the large pit while the man's was from a smaller death pit attached to a royal grave. He is presumed to be one of six soldiers who stood at the entrance of the pit.
Anthropology graduate student Aubrey Baadsgaard, who is doing her dissertation on Sumerian dress and adornment, said the scans will allow development of a three-dimensional image to show what the people looked like and evaluate how well the remains will stand up to scientific tests.
Janet Monge, acting curator in charge of the museum's physical anthropology collections, said the scan of the woman's skull should give an idea of how the elaborate headdresses found with the bodies were worn.
"Although they've got other headdresses, they don't have them on heads, so they're not exactly sure how they were worn," Monge said.
Baadsgaard said she hopes to recover DNA from the skulls. She also wants to draw enamel from the teeth to compare it with remains found in the Indus Valley civilization in India, a trading partner of the Sumerians, to see if the sacrificial victims came from that area.
"Some people have speculated that these victims were actually from the Indus valley or some other location, and that's why they were sacrificed , they were non-local people and, because they didn't have the same links to the area, could be more easily sacrificed," she said.
Baadsgaard also wants to see whether the remains may have been heated before burial, an early form of mummification done elsewhere in Mesopotamia to keep bodies preserved for funeral processions.
If so, the victims were likely killed before being taken to the burial site, casting doubt on the theory of the excavating archaeologists that they were given poison to drink in the tomb, she said.
GGG Ping.
Someone should start up a collection for funds to purchase cameras for archaeologists.
It’s a little late for preventative healthcare isn’t it?
That's even longer than patients have to wait in Canada.
I am sure that their deaths will be attributed to Coalition Armed Forces and the families will demand compensation...
You are so right - wait ‘till Murtha hears about this one.
No wonder Abraham got the heck outta of town.
I guess it’s hard to distinguish the 4600 year old skulls from modern-day Jihadis.
They’re looking for a way to pin it on the Marines.
Abraham's seaside hometown of Ur is now 100 miles inland.
Let me be the first to say
ROVE’S FAULT......
They knew he was coming
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You watch. Traces of depleted uranium and President Bush's thumb print will be discovered. :-) Was it a MobileHome town?
If they get a clean scan, CBS is going to ask them to read the nightly news.
You mean there's not enough in the budget for an MRI?
Just damn...
YOU ARE SO BAD!!!! ;)
Walmart has 1.3megapixel cameras for $19.95. We could equip a LOT of archaeologists that way...
The results are in! The dude is DEAD.
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