Prehistoric Britons ate their dead and carved their bones

[Skywizard]

Mystery zig-zags were found on the bones of ancient Britons. The flesh was probably eaten.

Cheddar Gorge in Somerset’s Mendip Hills is one of Britain’s most beautiful natural wonders, with its sweeping limestone cliffs, and striking natural rock chambers.

But new evidence suggests the picturesque site had a deeply sinister past.

Paleontologists have discovered that around 15,000 years ago, British cave dwellers filleted and ate their dead relatives before inscribing markings on their bones in grisly prehistoric rituals.

It is the first time that such practices have been found in the Paleolithic, or Old Stone Age - which dates from 2.6 million years ago to around 12,000 BC - anywhere in the world.

Scientists from the Natural History Museum in London and University College London (UCL) compared hundreds of cut-marks found on both human and animal bones at Gough’s Cave, one of the Gorge’s most impressive caverns.

They discovered that one human bone had been disarticulated, filleted, chewed and then marked with a zig-zag design, before it was finally broken to extract the bone marrow.

Researchers ruled out that the marks were made during the butchery process because they were found on a part of the bone with no muscle attachments.

They concluded that the ‘zig-zagging incisions are undoubtedly engraving marks, produced with no utilitarian purpose but purely for artistic or symbolic representation.’

The scientists speculate that the marks may have represented the ‘story’ of the victim’s life or a memorial to how they died. Whichever, they agree it must have been part of a ritual or ceremony to mark the person’s passing, like modern day funerary rites.

Bones with markings

Silvia Bello, Calleva Researcher at the Natural History Museum, says: “The engraved motif on the Gough’s Cave bone is similar to engravings observed in other Magdalenian European sites.

“However, what is exceptional in this case is the choice of human bone and the cannibalistic context in which it was produced.

“The sequence of modifications performed on this bone suggests that the engraving was a purposeful component of the cannibalistic practice, rich in symbolic connotations.

“Although in previous analyses we have been able to suggest that cannibalism at Gough’s Cave was practiced as a symbolic ritual, this study provides the strongest evidence for this yet.”

Gough’s Cave was first discovered in the 1880s and frequent excavations at the site have found evidence that humans lived there for thousands of years, including ‘Cheddar Man’, Britain’s oldest complete human skeleton, which dates from 7,150BC.

DNA taken from the skeleton was been found to match that of Adrian Targett, a man living in the local area today.

Gough's Cave in Cheddar Gorge

The cave is 115 m (377 ft) deep and is 3.405 km (2.12 mi) long, and contains a variety of large chambers and rock formations.

Human bones have been found intermingled with butchered large mammal remains as well as flint, bone, antler, and ivory artefacts including a 13,000 year old carving of a wooly mammoth.

They team has previously found skulls at the site which had been turned into bowls or cups, possibly to eat or drink from.





Source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/2...arkings-bones/


peace...

[Nasu]

Thanks for this post. No bone carving but they're still at it in today's age.....x... N

A landlady sobbed "He's eating her" in a 999 call after seeing a cannibal killer attack a young woman in her hotel, an inquest heard on Wednesday. Hotel owner Mandy Miles unlocked the door after hearing screams to see Cerys Yemm, 22, being attacked by her murderer in the room.....

- more - http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017...ller-attacked/