During the millennium BC, people of the Iron Age who lived on the Iberian Peninsula had an amazing funeral tradition: chop off people's heads and hang them in outstanding places – sometimes huge nails hammered on the skull. But archaeologists are not sure who was beheaded: is this a worship ceremony for important community members, or a clear warning to the enemy?
To investigate the problem, a team of European researchers analyzed seven cut-offs at two Spanish archaeological sites to determine whether the beheaded individuals were locals or outsiders of these ancient settlements. Local origins will provide funeral customs for respected members of the community, and cut-off outsider heads may be a threatening symbol of power. Interestingly, researchers found evidence of these two hypotheses that funeral beheading traditions vary from community to community, even within individual settlements.
“Our closest to the research is that if [the severed heads] If the war trophys don't come from the location of analysis, and if they are respected people, then these trophys are likely local. He is also the first author of the study, on February 13 Journal of Archaeological Sciences: Report.
The researchers performed isotope analysis of seven cut-off heads from Puig Castellar and Ullastret (methods used to study ancient human diet, environment, and movement): ancient Iberian settlements and cities on the northeastern coast of modern Spain, respectively. Both sites were abandoned from the late third century to the early second century BC, which may be related to Rome's invasion of the Iberian Peninsula, the study said.
Analysis shows that three of the four cut heads from Puig Castellar are likely non-local individuals. Additionally, all Puig Castellar heads were found “near the inside of the wall, beyond the main entrance to the settlement,” the researchers wrote in the study. This shows that it is “favorable to make these still visible”, they added. Based on these two elements, Fuente-Seoane and his colleagues argue that the three cuts could be war trophys designed to defend against external and internal enemies.
As for Ullastret's three cut heads, they “revealed a mixture of local and non-native sources,” Fuente-Seoane continued in the statement. The researchers explained in the study.
On the other hand, the third head is likely to be an outsider and is found in a pit, a potential enemy storage location.
Ultimately, research shows that “practice [displaying] At each site, the cut-off head is applied in a different way, which seems to rule out uniform symbolic expression. “Fuente-Seoane said. In other words, the funeral tradition of beheading is more complicated than scholars have previously thought. “But it takes more research to be sure. ”
Nevertheless, their research still illuminates an ancient culture that otherwise left little archaeological traces in social organizations.
