Remains from skull cult discovered at worlds oldest stone monuments

[Judi Lynn]

At Göbekli Tepe in Turkey, a 11,500 year-old monumental construction was decorated with human skulls.

ANNALEE NEWITZ - 6/28/2017, 5:45 PM


The monumental rock pillars of Göbekli Tepe date back over 11,000 years, and tower over a small hill in Turkey. Excavated just a couple of decades ago, these mysterious structures are part of the world's oldest known monumental religious complex. Each pillar is covered in hundreds of images, including carvings of humans and dangerous animals like snakes and scorpions. Surrounded by nested, winding walls, these pillars suggest a complex spiritual worldview shared by hunter-gatherers in the region who added to it for roughly 1,600 years. Now, a team of archaeologists have revealed that decorated human skulls were part of the Göbekli Tepe rituals. 

German Archaeological Institute paleopathologist Julia Gresky and her colleagues write in in Science Advances about excavating bone fragments that suggest an ancient "skull cult" at the site. Though it sounds like something out of a pirate movie, a skull cult is simply an archaeological term that describes the ritualistic or religious alteration of multiple skulls.

Gresky and her colleagues found three skulls scored with deep cuts made by sharpened stones. The carvings bisect the center of the face, continuing up the forehead and all the way around to the back of the skull. One skull, painted with red ochre, also had a hole drilled in the top. A likely explanation is that the skull cultists were tying the skulls with cords, then threading another cord through holes in the skull, in order to suspend them from the stones.

None of these individuals died from their skull carvings. Evidence suggests the skulls were defleshed and carved shortly after the individuals died. There's no telling whether the skulls belonged to venerated ancestors, or were trophies from defeated enemies.

More:
https://arstechnica.com/science/2017/06/remains-from-skull-cult-discovered-at-worlds-oldest-stone-monuments/

[Judi Lynn]

1. An ancient 'skull cult' might've carved up bones to shame their enemies

An ancient 'skull cult' might've carved up bones to shame their enemies


https://i.amz.mshcdn.com/8Q4k4KZdG-5Ee7gaP5iHJSZJC6Y=/950x534/filters:quality(90)/https%3A%2F%2Fblueprint-api-production.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fuploads%2Fcard%2Fimage%2F521656%2Fdba2c8e3-c1dd-4bb0-a892-c6b7b319e866.jpg

Aerial view of the Göbekli Tepe dig site in Turkey.IMAGE: GERMAN ARCHAEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE

BY MARIA GALLUCCI
5 HOURS AGO

An ancient "skull cult" might've existed thousands of years ago in present-day Turkey.

Three deeply carved skulls found at the Göbekli Tepe archaeological site suggest that humans disfigured the bones as part of a ritual, perhaps to venerate the dead or absorb the powers of fallen enemies, a team of German anthropologists reported this week in a new study.

Skull cults were common during the Neolithic period, which began around 10,000 B.C. Other digs worldwide have uncovered skulls covered in paint or plaster, or bearing intricate designs. In some modern Pacific Island cultures, skulls still represent a link between the living and the dead.

However, the ancient bones from Turkey are unique among the Neolithic skull cults. These are the first from their era to display a crude, practical-looking marking, according to the study published Wednesday in the journal Science Advances.

The three skulls had multiple deep incisions along their midlines that were likely carved with a flint tool. Scientists ruled out natural causes for the markings, such as an animal gnawing at the bones, by using microscopic techniques. One skull also had a hole drilled into the left parietal bone, which forms the sides and roof of the cranium.

More:
http://mashable.com/2017/06/28/ancient-skull-cult-turkey-new-evidence/?utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Mashable+%28Mashable%29&utm_cid=Mash-Prod-RSS-Feedburner-All-Partial&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed#JoG1zpNAbiqi

[Judi Lynn]

2. Carved human skulls found in ancient stone temple

By Andrew Curry
Jun. 28, 2017 , 2:00 PM

Archaeologists have made a remarkable find in a 12,000-year-old stone temple in southeastern Turkey. Among tens of thousands of animal bones and a statue that may depict a kneeling figure holding a human head, researchers have uncovered the remains of human skulls that were stripped of their flesh and carved with deep, straight grooves running front to back.

The carvings represent the first evidence of skull decoration in the archaeological record of the region. “This is completely new, and we don’t have a model to go on,” says Gary Rollefson, an archaeologist at Whitman College in Walla Walla, Washington, who was not involved with the work. The purpose of the carvings is unclear, he says, but they may have been part of an ancient religious practice. “There seems to be a focus on ritual reuse after decapitation.”

The site, known as Göbekli Tepe, has already changed the way archaeologists think about the origins of civilization. Located not far from the Syrian border on a hill with a commanding view of the surrounding landscape, it boasts multiple enclosures with tall, T-shaped pillars surrounded by rings of stones, many carved with reliefs. Such structures are unique for humans at this time—a period that predates agriculture or even pottery. Researchers once thought complex religion and society came about only after agriculture guaranteed early societies a food surplus. But Göbekli Tepe’s—which predates most agriculture—suggests it might have been the other way around: Hunter-gatherers might have started domesticating crops in order to have a reliable supply of food for workers at the site where they gathered for ceremonies.

When excavations at the site began in the mid-1990s, archaeologists expected to find human burials. Instead, they found animal bones by the tens of thousands. Mixed in were about 700 fragments of human bone, scattered throughout a loose fill of stones and gravel. “They’re distributed all over the area, in and around structures,” says team member Julia Gresky, an anthropologist at the German Archaeological Institute in Berlin. “We can’t put any individuals together.”

More:
http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2017/06/carved-human-skulls-found-ancient-stone-temple