An archaeologist discovers a 5,600-year-old human skull above a vertical shaft in the Marcel Loubens cave in northern Italy's Bologna region.
LONDON, ENGLAND - JANUARY 24: A gallery assistant at Bonhams auction house holds an engraved human skull, which is expected to fetch 900 GBP in their forthcoming 'Gentleman's Library Sale', on January 24, 2013 in London, England. The auction includes an eclectic mix of rare items such as a pygmy hippo skeleton, a cigar that belonged to Winston Chuchill and a MI9 spy catalogue. It will take place in Bonhams Knightsbridge on January 29 and 30, 2013.
The skull's resting place in the cave shaft was so tricky to access that only one archaeologist could retrieve it using rock climbing tools.
The woman died between the ages of 24 and 35, C.T. (computed tomography) scan and examination of the skull itself showed. According to radiocarbon dating, she existed during 3630 and 3380 B.C. That's during the New Stone Age, or Neolithic era. To place that in context, this woman lived only before Tzi the Iceman. Their mummified bodies were discovered in northern Italy around 3300 B.C.
The researchers came up with a potential explanation after deciding which of the skull's lesions were actually caused by humans and which were possibly sustained when the skull tumbled into numerous rocks.
Experts uploaded their study in the journal PLOS One on March 3rd with the title "Unveiling an odd fate after death: The isolated Eneolithic cranium discovered in the Marcel Loubens Cave (Bologna, Northern Italy)."
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Several traumatic marks on the woman's brain, according to LiveScience, helped the researchers put together her unusual tale. According to the researchers, one dent may have been rendered violently with drills because parallel grooves were under it. They speculated that this woman had undergone cranial surgery, such as trepanation, a Neolithic and later procedure that involves drilling holes in the skull. The team believed that someone put a smear of red ochre pigment present on this dent there for medicinal or symbolic purposes.
According to the researchers, other lesions displayed no signs of recovery. They noted that soft tissues on her skull had been sliced and scraped off since she died. Other Neolithic burials in Italy have confirmed this practice.
For example, at Re Tiberio Cave in northern Italy, the long arm and leg bones of up to 17 Neolithic human skeletons were arranged. Still, their heads were absent, indicating that these people's body parts might have been removed and rearranged after death. According to the researchers, other Neolithic fossils discovered in nearby caves also show signs of cranial scratch marks created after the people died.
How The Skull Ended Up in an Unusual Position
Other trauma and encrusted sediment on the woman's skull told a different story. Natural causes had moved her skull after she was buried, most likely water and the dirt pushed her head downwards into a sinkhole.
Researchers said in a statement that the skull ended up in the cave by mistake after a long and bumpy journey. The sinkhole's volcanic activities formed a tunnel, where the skull remained for 5,600 years before modern explorers found it.
Thomas Terberger, an archaeologist at the Lower Saxony State Office for Cultural Heritage in Hannover, Germany, found the skull's resting spot unique. Terberger, who wasn't involved in the study, added that the authors explained how the head ended up in this cave in a convincing manner.
Christian Meyer, lead researcher at the OsteoArchaeological Research Center in Germany, who wasn't involved in the study, told LiveScience that case studies like this are relevant to demonstrate the vast range of postmortem episodes that may happen to skeletal remains, triggered by natural or anthropogenic human-caused causes.
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