Ancient peoples did some perplexing things
Archaeologists have discovered 10 bizarre fossil skulls in a Swedish Lake. Some of the skulls were impaled on pointed wooden stakes driven into a paved stone or tiled platform in the floor of the shallow lake.
There were at least four male skulls, four females and one newborn child, well preserved in the lake for more than 8000 years. The adult skulls had been damaged by violent blunt force, manipulated, and disarticulated.
A long, wooden, half-metre stake was driven through the foramen magnum at the base of the skulls. Wild boar and brown bears bones and skulls were also scattered about the stone platform, some with surprising skull injuries.
These hunter-gathering people must have put a lot of time and effort into this carefully planned and purposively executed scene. The underwater discovery is one of prehistory’s most extraordinary finds and raises lots of questions.
Some archaeologists suggest these victims may have been punished for unacceptable behaviour, or displayed to intimidate enemies. They may have been slaves, or captives specifically chosen for ritualistic purposes.
Violence was common among Stone Age people. Of skulls found in other parts of Sweden, 10 per cent had axe-shaped injuries, and 17 per cent of Danish skulls had lethal wounds that had never healed. Most of the men had been killed in battle, with nasty head injuries, but women were just as likely as men to have their heads smashed. Violent family feuds or tribal raids?
In Lancashire, Britain, violence was common among Stone Age hunter-gatherers. Clubs and spear points have damaged many fossil skulls in the Midlands. British archaeologists say they can detect signs of ears slashed off, cattle rustling, witchcraft, and trophy taking.
Belfast University archaeologists found that 5 per cent of 50 fossil Irish skulls showed healed skull fractures. Others had died from head wounds.
It is very difficult to fathom the minds of these ancient people as they did some perplexing things. Neolithic Swiss ringed their lakeside villages with damaged baby skulls.
What motivated early people in North and South America, Africa, and Europe, to cut out and replace perfect circular chunks of skull?
❚ In my column of February 12, I asked readers if they had seen any albino sparrows or hedgehogs. In response, readers reported seeing white sparrows at Frankton, Mokau, Palmerston North, Taita, two in Christchurch, and another in Waikanae. The Waikanae bird is of special interest as we can add it to four other white sparrows recently seen there.
Another reader from Cust, Canterbury, sent me a photo of a baby albino hedgehog squashed on the road. Readers from Waikato, Porirua and Lower Hutt saw albino blackbirds, and an albino oystercatcher and kingfisher near Gisborne.
One reader saw an albino earwig in Christchurch. This is most unusual. I checked with an entomologist at Te Papa, who says he cannot recall any albino insects among the tens of thousands in the national collection.