On the territory of central Brazil, researchers have found traces of the most ancient ritual beheading. This could have been practiced by the hunter-gatherers who lived there.
The frightening find was reported by PLoS One. In 2007, during work in the Lapa do Shantou grotto, scientists discovered a burial consisting of a part of the skull, jaw, six cervical vertebrae, and two severed hands. Using the method of mass spectrometry, experts dated the find to 7 thousand years BC. Scientists drew attention to a number of features that could be associated with the performance of certain rituals. So, the severed hands were laid on the face of the deceased. The jaws and cervical vertebrae, in turn, had traces of blows.
Using the method of isotope analysis, scientists compared these remains with the remains of other inhabitants of the cave. It turned out that with a high degree of probability the person sacrificed was not a stranger and lived with other members of the tribe. In other words, the version of the capture and subsequent execution has not been confirmed. Before us there may be traces of a certain ritual performed by primitive hunter-gatherers.
This is not the first time that the Lapa do Shantou grotto has attracted the attention of researchers. So, in the 2000s, the most ancient remains of Homo sapiens were found there, ever discovered in South America. There, scientists have identified rock frescoes.
Hunter-gatherers who practiced decapitation lived about 9 thousand years ago, and Lapa do Shantu Cave may have been inhabited 12 thousand years ago. Provided that the guesses of scientists are correct, the find may become the oldest proof of the existence of the ritual of cutting off the head in the New World. In addition, she makes it clear that the Paleo-Indians had elaborate burial rituals.
Ritual Evidence / Drawing by Gil Tokyo.
Ilya Vedmedenko