Ancient Teenager Buried With Head Poking Out Of Strange Grave

[maximus otter]

AN UNUSUAL 3700-year-old grave unearthed in Spain shows how little we know about some ancient burial practices.

At the Humanejos site, 20 kilometres south of Madrid, there are about 100 ancient tombs. None is quite as strange as grave 31.

Inside the 1.2-metre-deep grave, the body of a 15-year-old youth was placed, sitting upright. He was then partially buried, leaving his head and shoulders exposed to the elements.

...the body was originally bound in a sitting position and then the upper part, which was exposed, naturally collapsed after the decomposition process.

https://www.newscientist.com/articl...g-out-of-strange-spanish-grave/#ixzz6W5sVWkBy

...the only object found within the human remains [was] a flint arrowhead, [which] was examined through use-wear analyses, [revealing an impact mark.]

Different hypothesis are proposed about the possible social meaning behind this strange burial ritual in the context of the Late Prehistory mortuary dataset, from the “bad death” (execution?, public punishment?) to other parallels pointing to the burial ritual of someone special within the community (elite/Shaman).

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S2352409X20303084

maximus otter

 

[ramonmercado]

AN UNUSUAL 3700-year-old grave unearthed in Spain shows how little we know about some ancient burial practices.

At the Humanejos site, 20 kilometres south of Madrid, there are about 100 ancient tombs. None is quite as strange as grave 31.

Inside the 1.2-metre-deep grave, the body of a 15-year-old youth was placed, sitting upright. He was then partially buried, leaving his head and shoulders exposed to the elements.

...the body was originally bound in a sitting position and then the upper part, which was exposed, naturally collapsed after the decomposition process.

https://www.newscientist.com/articl...g-out-of-strange-spanish-grave/#ixzz6W5sVWkBy

...the only object found within the human remains [was] a flint arrowhead, [which] was examined through use-wear analyses, [revealing an impact mark.]

Different hypothesis are proposed about the possible social meaning behind this strange burial ritual in the context of the Late Prehistory mortuary dataset, from the “bad death” (execution?, public punishment?) to other parallels pointing to the burial ritual of someone special within the community (elite/Shaman).

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S2352409X20303084

maximus otter

Just a headstrong youth.

 

[bugmum]

This is what happens when you bury someone in the sand on the beach and forget about them...

 

[Kondoru]

Do you know I kind of like that.

 

[Bad Bungle]

Epitaph found : ' This is really really, really really PANTS !!'

 

[brownmane]

Wonder if those seated and buried as such were watchers or protectors of a particular site? It reminds me of when people are sleeping in unfamiliar, possibly dangerous areas and someone stays up to keep watch.