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posted by janrinok on Saturday February 24 2018, @01:07AM   Printer-friendly
from the heads-up dept.

In east-central Sweden, workers demolishing a railway that crossed the Motala Ström River discovered something bizarre. For roughly 7,500 years, a shallow, swampy lake in the area had hidden a pile of stones that contained the skeletal remains of at least 10 people and weapons made of stone and antler. They also found the bones of bears, deer, boar, and a badger. Two of the human skulls were mounted on pointed stakes.

Thousands of years ago, this semi-submerged burial ground must have been an imposing sight for the small settlements located nearby. A pile of rocks rose above the water, covered in weapons, wooden structures, and the grisly remains of fearsome animals—as well as the skulls of some carefully chosen people. Now dubbed "Kanaljorden," the archaeological site has finally begun to yield some secrets about the people who created it. In a recent article for Antiquity, Stockholm University archaeologist Sara Gummesson and her colleagues explain what the evidence reveals about how this ritual site was used.

Though we've seen lots of heads on stakes in Game of Thrones and various movies, Kanaljorden is the first time anyone has found evidence in real life that Stone Age people in this area were mounting heads on stakes. And their reasons are not quite what you might imagine.

Antiquity, 2018. DOI: 10.15184/aqy.2017.210

Source: ArsTechnica


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  • (Score: 3, Interesting) by stretch611 on Saturday February 24 2018, @07:28AM (1 child)

    by stretch611 (6199) on Saturday February 24 2018, @07:28AM (#642938)

    I'd like to live just long enough to be there when they cut off your head and stick it on a pike, as a warning to the next ten generations that some favors come with too high a price. I want to look up into your lifeless eyes and wave like this

          - - Vir Cotto (played by Stephen "Flounder" Furst)

    --
    Now with 5 covid vaccine shots/boosters altering my DNA :P
    Starting Score:    1  point
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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday February 24 2018, @08:19AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday February 24 2018, @08:19AM (#642950)

    Good one!

    But I beat you to it [soylentnews.org], friend.