1. Human sacrifices as 'crisis management' ?
- Author
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Arbogast, Rose-Marie, Denaire, Anthony, Jeunesse, Christian, Zeeb-Lanz, A., Bauer, S., Boulestin, B., Coupey, A.-S., Haack, F., Schimmelpfennig, D., Turk, R., Etude des Civilisations de l'Antiquité (UMR 7044), Université de Haute-Alsace (UHA) Mulhouse - Colmar (Université de Haute-Alsace (UHA))-Université Marc Bloch - Strasbourg II-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Archéologie et histoire ancienne : Méditerranée - Europe (ARCHIMEDE), Université de Strasbourg (UNISTRA)-Université de Haute-Alsace (UHA) Mulhouse - Colmar (Université de Haute-Alsace (UHA))-Ministère de la Culture et de la Communication (MCC)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), and Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université Marc Bloch - Strasbourg II-Université de Haute-Alsace (UHA) Mulhouse - Colmar (Université de Haute-Alsace (UHA))
- Subjects
[SHS.ARCHEO]Humanities and Social Sciences/Archaeology and Prehistory ,Neolithic ,enclosures ,cannibalism ,ritualised destruction - Abstract
The early Neolithic site of Herxheim has revealed extraordinary remains of a unique ritual, comprising the sacrifice of more than 500 human individuals. The site consists of o settlement area of the Linear Bandkeramik Culture, surrounded by an earthwork, constructed of a double ring of overlapping pits. The sacrified individuals were butchered like animals, their bones in most cases smashed into small fragments. The Leitmotif of the site, intentional destruction of all kinds of material, comprises high quality pottery as well as stone and flint tools and grinding stones. The smashed human bones were found in concentrations of varying size in the pit enclosure of the settlement. A lot of questions accrued during the sceintific analysisi of the site. The examination of the human bones revealed cut marks and traces of scraping. One of the hypothesis for the normed and repeated treatement of the human bodies calls for cannibalism as an important part of the strange rituals, which do have neighter tradition nor analogies in the 650 years of the Linear Pottery Culture. Various ideas concerning the ritual, its motivations, and the identity of the sacrified persons are advanced in this article.
- Published
- 2016