An Iberian tomb from 6,000 years ago was found to host bones that appeared to be cracked after the individuals died.
Large Tombs in Spain
Two large Neolithic stone tombs were discovered by archaeologists decades ago. These tombs in northern Spain apparently date to the fourth millennium B.C.
The tombs were found to host the remains of over two dozen women, children, and men. This came as an addition to the pottery fragments, bone awls, flint arrowheads, and stone tools discovered in the area.
Now, recent analysis of the bones of the individuals has suggested that several of these individuals were fragmented and fractured perimortem, which was just around the time they died.
Defleshing and Bone Fractures
Archaeologists from Spain were able to find evidence that ancient individuals dismembered and defleshed corpses roughly 6,000 years ago. Rather than hinting at ancient murder, these could have been linked to funerary practices that ancient individuals held right after the individual died.
The novel findings were described in the "Two examples of anthropic manipulation and postmortem processing of human remains at megalithic sites in inland Iberia: La Cabaña and Los Zumacales (Spanish northern sub-plateau)" study.
The researchers note that roughly 70% to 90% of the bones appeared to be fractured. This includes arms that have fractures in the shape of butterflies that may have come from a force that was applied perpendicularly to the bone. Some bones were also observed to have impact marks, which indicated a banging or percussive force. The researchers also observed cut marks with a V shape, which may have been made through stone tools used for defleshing the corpse.
Why Were the Bones Dismembered and Bodies Defleshed?
Though there are earlier studies that suggest that the remains pointed to burials that were eventually cleaned up and moved aside, the study's researchers argue that the cut marks and fragments came as part of an ancient death management process that was implemented to handle the dead compatriots.
Archaeologist Angélica Santa-Cruz from the University of Valladolid explains that it is hard to interpret the motivation behind the practices. These activities could have been directed towards accelerating the corpse's decomposition process when necessary, while some bones may have been treated as relics or funerary objects of worship.
It is important to note, however, that the researchers did not rule out the possibility of ancient individuals engaging in funerary cannibalism. Eating the dead's flesh is considered an ancient human behavior, with evidence found in northwestern Europe, especially pointing to the Upper Palaeolithic era.
The patterns of bone fractures in one of the tombs, particularly, may depict funerary cannibalism, which is also known as anthropophagy or endocannibalism. However, the researchers note that such claims should be cautiously made.
The site offers only a few other clues to help shed light on these funerary practices. There is also only minimal known knowledge regarding these Neolithic people due to the few habitation areas that have been discovered.
With the fresh insights discovered as the researchers looked deeper into the bones, they suggest that it is necessary to conduct similar studies on other tombs' bones in order to know more about the funerary practice diversity that may have happened in these areas.
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