Archaeologists have uncovered the mystery of the skull from an Italian cave

Archaeologists have uncovered the mystery of the skull from an Italian cave
Archaeologists have uncovered the mystery of the skull from an Italian cave
Anonim

Italian scientists, based on the smallest details, were able to decipher the history of a lone skull of a woman of the Copper Age, found in a cave in northern Italy. The results of this scientific "investigation" are published in the journal PLOS ONE.

In 2015, cavers discovered a human skull without a lower jaw in the gypsum cave of Marcel Lubens in the province of Bologna. It is known that the ancient inhabitants of the Apennine Peninsula used the caves for burial rites, but in this case there were no other bones nearby, moreover, the skull was in an inaccessible place on the ledge of a vertical shaft.

Scientists are interested in the skull. Structural analysis of the bone showed that it belonged to a young woman between the ages of 24 and 35, and radiocarbon dating determined the age of the find, placing it in the Chalcolithic, or Copper Age, between 3630 and 3380 BC.

The researchers found several scratches on the skull caused by the removal of soft tissue after death as part of a funeral ritual, as well as inlaid mineral sediment on the bone, indicating that the skull had been exposed to water for a long time.

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Location of the skull in the cave of Marcel Lubens

The authors analyzed the composition of sedimentary deposits inside the skull and pigmented plaque on its surface and, based on the results obtained, concluded that the skull, cleaned of soft tissues, was originally buried somewhere else.

Later, the grave was probably washed away by streams of rainwater, and the skull was carried away by a mud stream into one of the depressions at the base of the cave, which eventually turned into a deep ravine, where the skull fell. The fact that the fall into the cave was accidental is also confirmed by the damage sustained by the skull during the fall.

"This amazing find was found on the ledge of a vertical shaft. Interest was fueled by questions: Whose skull is this? How and when did it get there?" - cited in a press release from the publishing house the words of the lead author of the study, Maria Giovanna Belcastro from the University of Bologna.

In addition to revealing the history of the skull, the results of the study, according to the authors, provide new insights into funeral rites and the treatment of the bodies of the dead in Italy during the Copper Age.

“The corpse of a young woman of the early Eneolithic was probably manipulated and dismembered in a funeral or ritual context, and the skull, after numerous twists and turns, ended up in the cave in the position in which it was found,” concludes Belcastro.

The authors do not exclude the possibility that the ancient burial rites meant the dismemberment of the body of the deceased, at least the separation of the head from the body.

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