Tuesday, July 29, 2014

Relics and bodyparts

Another unusual find from Spain last week.

(It sounds to be within a layer containing Beaker material.)
People hacked apart, but only parts deposited.  Something similar has been found in England where special significance is given to parts.  On the interviews tab of the Beaker Blog, Mike Parker Pearson speaks of Beaker 'mummies' and these 'Frankenstein' combinations of multiple body parts sewn together in a single individual.

Beakercraft appears to have placed special significance to particular body parts, at least in the case of animal sacrifices.  As a bad example, think of a "lucky rabbit foot" or using chicken bones to cast lots.  Every part has a special power to the believers.  Apparently, this held true for humans as well.

It seems these parts being excavated were only cast into a pit.  While the application or deposition of body parts is different, it is interesting their beliefs slowly emerge.

Orphan body parts (Perdigoes 2014)

From Antonio Valera:  [Perdigoes 2014]

"They are being defined. There is not just an individual, but anatomical parts of several individuals. As we have argued in several occasions, human bodies were being butchered apart and then parts of different individuals were deposited in a same space."



Pit of body parts (Perdiogoes 2014)

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