Posted on 10/15/2013 4:28:16 AM PDT by Pharmboy
LOTHIAN, Md. — For weeks, Al Luckenbach puzzled over the bones surfacing in the pit atop the Patuxent River bluff here. They were hard to identify: fragments and shattered splinters, unlike the intact animal bones heaped in the nearly 9,000-year-old feast site down the hill.
[cannot post pics from NY Times]
A case of ornamental bones found at the Pig Point site, at what may have been a regional mortuary. Then the scrape of a trowel tip uncovered a human tooth in the dirt among the crushed pottery and broken spearheads. Two more followed, and a startling realization emerged with them: the bones on the hilltop were human, with marks suggesting they were deliberately smashed as part of a prehistoric ritual.
Since that discovery last year, the spot known as Pig Point has become a tantalizing window into prehistoric gatherings on the hilltop thousands of years ago. While burial sites are relatively common, ancient ceremonial sites as deep and well preserved as the one believed to be atop Pig Point are extremely unusual.
“Habitation sites are everywhere,” said Dr. Luckenbach, the archaeologist for Anne Arundel County. “Ritual sites — that’ll only be a few places. Boy, were we lucky to blunder into this one.”
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Prehistoric ping...
East coast politicians are keeping alive the age-old practice of Biting The Hand That Feeds You.
Archive news report from the year 2525..... "back then they called it Obama Care."
Must be the folks who refused to turn in their high capacity quivers and assault bows.
...and those who failed to pay those high taxes were beaten with rocks until their bones were nothing but splintered fragments.
Seems like a viable hypothesis to me...
Amazing how every dig is a ritual site or a king’s tomb. It can never be Billy Bob’s tomb or his serial killer cousin’s body dump.
Every bone found is a mystery that can only be resolved by “necessary funding”.
Where their arms taken?
***with marks suggesting they were deliberately smashed as part of a prehistoric ritual. ***
Cannibalism.
Same thing found in the 4 Corners area years ago. Libs don’t like to make waves over American Indian cannibalism lest it offend some and prove early America was not paradise on earth.
The bones are smashed to get to the marrow and brains.
The bones are smashed to get to the marrow
They were probably left overs, they said they’d
eat them “to marrow”.
...unlike the intact animal bones heaped in the nearly 9,000-year-old feast site down the hill... the bones on the hilltop were human, with marks suggesting they were deliberately smashed as part of a prehistoric ritual.And for dessert, lady fingers!
Wattchew bin upto?
I’m sure these were the smashed bones of the aborted babies of prehistoric Maryland liberals . . .
Maryland “Freak State” PING!
Don’t forget those who dwelt near the Mississippi in what is now Minnesota. They spread the wealth pretty well also.
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