The tomb of the sunken skulls: The mysterious mass burial site where terrifying human sacrifices took place
Some 8,000 years ago a Stone Age group of hunter-gatherers created a complex underwater burial site where they placed skulls on stakes.
Humans all over the world developed different burial ceremonies but one of the most puzzling was discovered at the Kanaljorden excavation site in Motala, Sweden. A group of hunter-gatherers who inhabited the area roughly 8,000 years ago created a stone platform on a lakebed measuring 39 feet by 46 feet upon which they carefully deposited in an organized manner the remains of humans and animals.
What really caught the attention of the archaeologists is that the human heads discovered were placed on stakes as well as missing the jawbone, except for one. The animal bones on the other hand were made up of jawbones along with arms and legs, but only from the right side of the body.
The tomb of the sunken skulls
During excavations, archaeologists found 11 adult skulls, both male and female, and one of an infant, the only one whose skeleton was almost entirely present. Seven of the adult skulls had signs of blunt-force trauma. The location of the head injuries indicate that it was the result of human-on-human violence
However, that wasn’t what killed them, at least not initially, as the injuries been allowed to heal before they were buried. “Somebody gave them love and care after this and healed them back to life again,” study co-lead researcher Fredrik Hallgren told Live Science.
The question researchers have been asking themselves is why these ancient hunter-gatherers went through so much trouble to bury these people in such a manner at the bottom of a small lake. Could they have been part of a stigmatized group or victims of an attack by another group, and then were given revered status.
The Charlottenborgs slott, a museum in Motala, commissioned facial reconstructions for a 2020 exhibit. Using DNA that they were able to obtain from some of the skulls, researchers were able to determine the individuals complexion as well as eye and hair color.
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