Real? Legal?

I am not familiar with European laws on trading antiquities, but does anyone know if this item being sold is legit or legal?

Here's the entry:  Marktplaast

My personal advice is to never buy anything unless it can be authenticated and it is legal and ethical to do so.  Using this rule, most of the cultural heritage being plundered and lost on shady sites like eBay can be quickly excluded.  Most of it is bullshit made in Algerian slums by slummy people, but every now and then a priceless artifact shows up in a garage sale.

I'm highly skeptical of the authenticity of the "beaker" above.

Bohemian Burial Beheamoth

Not to be outdone, another big Czech cemetery at Slaného na Kladensku in Bohemia.  Via Ceska televize 24, Tyden.cz, and Denik.cz

(Archaeollgicky ustav AV CR via Ceska televize 24)

So far there is about fifty Bell Beaker graves in this cemetery.  They are described as deep, timber-lined graves.  There is a wealth of artifacts including the typical beakers and archery equipment.  As reported in Tyden, the archaeologists note that the gold spiral earrings of the woman are the oldest examples yet found in any Beaker context. 

(Archaeollgicky ustav AV CR via Ceska televize 24)

Drahomira Malykova and Prague Archaeological Institute AV CR are doing the rescue excavations.  Remains from a previously excavated cemetery of Brandysek in Slany were recently included in a paper on the osteological dimensions of archery by Ryan et al, 2018.  Two individuals from Brandysek were analyzed in Allentoft, 2015, but they were later excluded from further analysis after being dated to a later period.

The site via Tyden.cz

The Orignal Cornishware - Discovery Cornwall

Big discovery in Crantock, Cornwall.

There was a fully intact Beaker cazuela discovered in Southern Spain just two weeks ago, now this rare example of an unbroken bell beaker in Cornwall.  From CornwallLive

CornwallLive

South West Archaeology has taken responsibility of the two pit graves containing three pots in a development site.   Both pits lined with slate and capped with quartz.  The beaker about is about a foot high

CornwallLive

This broke over the weekend, hopefully we'll see a few more articles with more details in the coming days, especially concerning the remains if any were left.

Headless on the Henares

One of the notable things about the Magdalena cemetery Bell Beakers is that all but two are missing their heads.  Two of those headless Beakers are a woman and an old woman pictured below, 4598 and 4599.  Their mummified heads were cut off with a sharp instrument at some point before skeletalization, or perhaps were they alive?  This follows a series on Alcala de Henares.

The only two Beakers with their heads intact are the baby 4307 buried with the man with the most steppe ancestry (I6471), and the woman with zero steppe ancestry 4467 (I6475).  I have a hunch as to why it is these two individuals were spared head removal.

From Cabrera et al, 2012

But first, let's look at these headless women.  Cabrera et al, 2012 seem to suggest somewhat cryptically (no pun intended), that the two women were human sacrifices for a third headless woman (Beaker associated) buried underneath to which they were intentionally segregated.  To be clear, let me say that that is not Cabrera et al explicitly said but my interpretation of how they have framed the evidence (which is why their quote is below).  Only DNA could resolve this question, for if they are all closely related, like aunts or sisters, then sacrifice is much less likely.

"Más difícil de interpretar es la presencia, en una tumba del yacimiento de La Magdalena, de dos mujeres “decapitadas” a las que les faltan también las prime- ras cuatro vértebras cervicales. Están colocadas sobre el sellado de una inhuma- ción con ajuar campaniforme, al parecer removida (HERAS, GALERA y BASTIDA, 2011:19) y, quizás, depositadas tras dicho expolio. Aunque resulta difícil saber si su presencia está relacionada con la acción de violación de la tumba del individuo campaniforme o por su posible vinculación, en vida, a este personaje. Sea cual sea la causa de la inhumación de las dos decapitadas, lo que sí queda claro es que hubo una intencionalidad en no asociar directamente sus cuerpos con los restos del primer inhumado pertenciente a un colectivo campaniforme."

Whether or not the two women were sacrificed, beheading doesn't seem to provide any positive evidence for a sacrificial act since almost everyone was beheaded regardless of their position or status. Heras and Galera make this observation in Antropoarqueología en la Magdalena:

"Un claro ejemplo de acción antrópica es una de las tumbas campaniformes (Figura 07) en donde se han encontrado los esqueletos de dos mujeres, una adulta y otra madura, en conexión anatómica y, debajo de ellas, huesos dispersos de otra mujer también adulta. Las tres carecían de cráneo y de las primeras vértebras cervicales (C1 a C4). No se ha podido determinar la presencia de marcas de cortes en la vértebra C5, debido al mal estado de conservación del hueso. Es interesante destacar que de los 10 individuos campaniformes, únicamente en 2 casos conservan el cráneo la mujer 4467, y un niño el 4307. Parece que los campaniformes tenían algún tipo de ritual que consistía en el culto a los antepasados, centrado en los cráneos a modo de reliquia."

If we were get DNA on the three headless women, I think we'd find that they were first or second degree relatives deposited at different times.  The intentional segregation of the primary grave from the other two could be interpreted as an attempt to maintain distance between a putrefied, rotting corpse and a fresh interment.

Of course if that isn't true, and there is no meaningful genetic relationship between the three, then some other explanation would be required, and of course that doesn't necessarily require contemporary executions.  If I had to guess, we have something along the lines of a mother/daughter/daughter-in-law type of situation in which the grave was re-opened up to three times.

To the head-chopping.   Although it is possible that these Beakers were engaged in some sort of pre-Celtic head worship, and though the preservation and display of mummified relicts appear to have been in place with British Beakers, I'm somewhat skeptical that this is the case at Magdalena.

I find it interesting that the only graves with meaningful copper are those with heads, whereas in the case of 5005 above, we have evidence that copper was in the grave and is now gone (green stains on the phalanges).  I think what were are dealing with is smash and grab grave robbing (If you're German you may be re-reading that last bit).  Smash and grab.  As far as head removal, either these graves were intentionally desecrated or the heads were removed by the robbers for other reasons.

I'll guess the reason why 4467 (I6475) was spared the looting and head removal is because her grave was not apparent to the pillagers from the surface.  Was her grave older than the rest?  The robbers digging through the mound probably were not even aware a child was buried there as well.  They would rightly assume that it was a man's grave, which they found and looted before the sunrise.

Veiling the Dead - Part III (Interpreting Red Burials) asdf

Why are so many ancient burials red? 

Part 1 considered the widespread 'evil eye' superstition and red veils.
Part 2 considered resistance to red apotropaism in the Christian period.

The Red Ochre Tradition (ROT) is summarized in "The Geologic Model of Religion" by (Andrew Clifford 2012) starting on page 95.  While I don't subscribe to all of his hypotheses, it's good starting place for understanding the antiquity and continuity of this practice. 

He describes it as a component of the human Inner Core Religion; ROT being the oldest material evidence for spiritual belief.  At least within the core Neolithic sphere, I think some circumstantial evidence may suggest a certain kind of red apotropaism is the main cause for its inclusion in those burials.

Gøngehusvej [Mesolithic]...ochre are especially in the head and pelvis areas." (National Museum of Denmark)

The most common surviving burial pigment is red ochre (iron oxide).  In the Mesolithic Ertebolle Culture, folks often had their heads covered with red ochre.  Is covering the head or the whole body intended to hide the deceased?

In Egyptian mythology, the extermination of the human race by the 'Eye of Ra' was thwarted by creating a concoction of beer and ochre and pouring the blood-like mixture on the ground to fool the eye. (Remler, 2010.  pg 51)  The use of ochre as a war paint is attested around the world for similar spiritual concerns.

Djumbulak kum burial [Iron Age] (National Geographic)

In this Djumbulak kum burial, the red shroud over the face appears to have been dyed with Madder root.  Within the context of Greek mythology (Herodotus iv. 189), a madder-dyed cloak is emblematic of Athena's tasseled aegis.

The attributes of Athena are apotropaisms associated with those for warding off the evil eye.  They included the oculos, the gorgoneion, and the aegis, the last of which combines several apotropaic devices in a single garment (being golden tassles, a gorgoneion and a red color).  Athena's bright eyes (possibly blue) are also significant in a Mediterranean context.  (See also Sulis)  This is in contrast to the wild eyes of the Gorgons whose damning stare causes immediate death.

Presumed wife of Yax K’uk’ Mo, covered with cinnabar.  Margarita Tomb [Late Classical Maya] Copan, Hondoras (ASC)

Above is a burial typical of many royal tombs in the Americas.  Cinnabar is also very common to burials beginning in the Mesolithic of Southeast Asia, Chinese Late Neolithic and the El Argar cultural remains of Bronze Age Spain.

As hypothesized in Part 2, elder dye may be the source of a fairy tale red cloak. 

This has a relevant meaning to pigments because it prevents any one source of red dye from having the exclusive apotropaic power against the damning stare of Gorgons or whatever. 

Mulhouse-Est Grave 2 Linearbandkeramik [Early Neolithic] (Antiquity)

"Colored Bones, Varied Meanings" Katy Meyers

"Why is Ochre Found in Some Graves" National Museum of Denmark

"Red Lady of El Miron" New Scientist


If at any moment the beliefs and rituals of the Ertebolle people seem two dimensional, a small baby buried in the wing of a swan helps us realize how real the pain of death was even for tough log boatsmen.