For the first time, researchers have discovered skulls of human beings impaled with wooden poles, dating back to 8000 years ago and attributable to Mesolithic individuals.
In 2009, the construction of a new railway along the Motala river in southern Sweden was interrupted as archaeologists began to discover artifacts dating back thousands of years ago. Over the following years, bones of animals were found in the sediments, instruments made of deer horns, wooden posts and fragments of skull.
The remains belonged to Mesolithic hunter-gatherers, the intermediate period of the Stone Age, which dates back to about 8000 years ago. The populations lived at that time were known to have respect for the physical integrity of their dead. At least so far.
In 2011, Fredrik Hallgren, of the Cultural Heritage Foundation, led an archaeological project on the Kanaljorden site, near the Motala river. At the very beginning of the excavation campaign, archaeologists discovered for the first time, in the bottom of a shallow lake, skulls of human beings attributable to the Mesolithic hunter-gatherer populations impaled with wooden poles.
"We expected to find animal bones as much as possible, but not to make such an extraordinary discovery," says Hallgren.
The results of the study," Keep your head high " were recently published in the journal Antiquity.
At the excavation site in Kanaljorden, the skulls of nine adult individuals and one child, dating back to 8000 years ago, were found on a layer made up of numerous large stones. The skulls were devoid of jaw and two of them were crossed by well-preserved wooden poles. The tips of the posts were inserted through the large oval openings in the lower part of the skull, the occipital holes, and pushed upwards; this suggests that the skulls had been impaled before being placed in the lake. In one case, the tip protruded out of the skull.
The researchers also found bones of animals arranged around the skulls and ordered according to the type of specimen they belonged to.
"It seems that somehow they have separated humans and animals, 'also cataloging the latter according to species," explains Hallgren.
Two skulls belonged to female individuals, four to male individuals and two to people between the ages of 20 and 35. The researchers also discovered an almost complete skeleton of the newborn, whose very small bones suggest that he was born dead or died shortly after birth.
The skulls of the victims show evident wounds. Near the upper extremities of the heads there are blunt body traumas, as well as other lesions showing signs of healing. Women's skulls have injuries in the back and on the left and right sides of the head, while those of male individuals have only one trauma in the upper part of the head and face.
"The victims were hit in the head and then put on the show soon after," continues Hallgren. "More than half of the skulls reported head injuries, which had undergone a healing process."
Researchers still do not know what weapons were used to inflict blows, but they hypothesize that the victims did not die because of the injuries inflicted. The researchers, in analyzing the DNA of these individuals, have also discovered that two skulls belonged to two men related to each other.
"They are probably not brothers, but they could be cousins or more distant relatives," says Hallgren.
The group of researchers discovered 400 fragments of wooden poles, some of which had been used to support long-fallen objects. But I can not say what they were for.
The group of researchers has formulated some hypotheses regarding the reason why the skulls were impaled. It is likely that they were buried elsewhere and then intentionally put on display. As the burial area is small, and since it is the first case of this kind due to the Mesolithic hunter-gatherer populations, it is not possible to make comparisons with other burial sites.
"There are no such situations", explains Hallgren. "We are also working to put the site in the local archaeological context".
Other excavation campaigns had shown that Mesolithic hunter-gatherers used to respect their dead, and only later did they discover that the practice of beheading their enemies was common among those same individuals.
"We have no direct evidence of decapitation," says Sara Gummesson of the University of Stockholm, one of the authors of the study. "The skulls are more likely to have been separated from their bodies during decomposition."
Credits
The blunt body trauma visible on the skulls may have been caused by an act of violence, abduction or otherwise. It is also possible, though unlikely, that the injuries may have been inflicted accidentally.
Since there are several signs of trauma depending on whether the skulls belonged to male or female individuals, it is possible that the type of violence was gender-related: it could have been inflicted in cases of marital abuse, during an external attack or conflict or it could be linked to some sort of cultural practice. The exposition of the heads may have been an act linked to a funeral ritual aimed at honoring the members of the local community. According to Hallgren, the skulls may have been used as trophies, even if it is considered unlikely.
Further study is needed to solve some of the mysteries that hover around this burial site. Researchers have begun digging into nearby sites to see if there are similarities with the recently discovered study objects found.
"There are many aspects about these findings that could be discussed. We must not rule out any hypothesis regarding possible future findings, the result of the ongoing excavation campaign ", concludes Gummesson.
