Skulls Through History

Global Journal of Archaeology & Anthropology, 2018

The preservation of the skull (or a part of it) of the dead is linked to the cult of the ancestors and with the idea that the spirit dwells in preference in the head of the deceased. The practice of the selection and conservation of human skulls is found quite regularly starting from the last phase of the Upper Paleolithic, the Maddalenian, and then developed during the European Mesolithic period (X-VII Millennium). The archaeological evidence analyzed up to now: the ritual treatment of the skull, together with the care in the disposal of the bodies, the presence of tools, food and non-instrumental objects such as flowers or animal horns, the application of agents such as red ocher and the shells, shows the attention given to the dead from the earliest.

The skull as trophy was not uncommon. It was in some regions a custom related to social life, cannibalism, sacrifice or war. It has been proposed as a cause or explanation that hunting for the heads comes from the use of preserving the cranium of family members in ancient time. Museums have collected and preserved them for anthropological and forensic purposes. The Mütter Museum of The College of Physicians of Philadelphia preserves collections of anatomical specimens Shrunken heads of the 19th century indigenous people of Ecuador (Shuar tribe) are exhibited as a collection of skulls acquired in 1874 from Viennese anatomist Joseph Hyrtl (1810-1894) who retained at the time the skull of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The skulls can also be in coded representation as for the theme of vanity or with contemporary art sometimes so marked of primitivism that matter takes precedence over the place. Milton Becerra gave us an appointment this way at the botanical garden of Montpellier in 2006. He manipulated for this purpose works from another continent and transported the atmosphere to find the improbable link with our ancestors.

2014

Skull removal practices flourished during the PPNA and PPNB periods and dominated the funeral rituals in society. The treatment of the skull reflected the importance of the skull in Neolithic societies. The skull had a relationship with the life and identity of the dead, and created linkage between the living and dead. In the following Pottery Neolithic Period, this custom obviously decreased. The cemetery of Tell el Kerkh in northwestern Syria presented six clear specimens of skull removal in the primary burials. These specimens may help to understand the reason for continuity of skull removal in this period. Therefore, I will highlight both the rapid decrease of skull removal practices in general and its survival at a few sites in the Pottery Neolithic period. I believe that this kind of study furthers understanding of skull symbolism in Near Eastern Neolithic societies.

Theories of Continuing Bonds, and more recently, the Dual Process of Grieving, have provided new ways of understanding the bereavement process, and have influenced current practice for counsellors, end-oflife care practitioners and other professionals. This paper uses these theories in a new way, exploring their relevance to archaeological interpretation, with particular reference to the phenomenon of the plastering of skulls of the deceased in the Neolithic of Southwest Asia (the Middle East/Near East), suggesting that traditional archaeological interpretations, which focus on concepts of status and social organisation, may be missing a more basic reaction to grief and a desire to keep the dead close for longer.

According to Maya beliefs, death opened a long way to the otherworld. As a consequence, the Maya equipped burials with numerous grave goods which cannot be viewed as the material remains only. Actually, they reflected important ideas and symbolism associated with Maya mythology. A prominent place among funerary customs takes the practice of placing inverted bowls over heads of deceased individuals. I studied one hundred burials containing this specific pottery type from fifteen sites in Maya Lowlands and compared the results with data on the belief system related to the afterlife. My research supports the theory that such vessels had cosmological significance. Furthermore, this funerary custom may also be related to the Maize God and his mythical journey through the underworld.

Contribution to the Study of Skull Cult in Moesia Superior,, 2020

Hungarian Archaeology, 2021

Various forms of the skull cult have been attested since the Palaeolithic across immense and geographically often distant regions. Several variants of this distinctive rite dating from the later fourth millennium BC have been documented in the Carpathian Basin: skulls placed in inhumation burials and skulls or skull fragments buried in separate graves, as well as skull fragments or mandibles deposited in pits, wells or other settlement features. Any assessment of skull cults is ultimately based on finds of intact or fragmented neurocraniums (ossa cranii cerebralis) and the viscerocraniums (ossa cranii visceralis), while mandibles are rarely found in this context. Yet, no matter which fragment of the skull is found in a burial or some other feature, the entire skull was needed for removing the portions necessary for performing the rite. The large-scale excavations conducted during the past years have yielded further evidence for the practice of this rite from several sites in Hungary...

RITUALS PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE PERSPECTIVES

The paper presents a study of the figures carved in a set of archaeological–osteological samples from the tomb site at Zaachila in Oaxaca, Mexico from a Quantitative Semiotics approach. It also advances a description to explain the ritual use of the human body as a support of writing to represent mythological scenes from a Pre-Hispanic indigenous worldview. Through the representations of glyphs carved in bones both synthetic and analytical readings of written records buried in the tomb at the Zaachila were undertaken. The text consists of an archaeological description that adapts semiotic concepts used in interpretation of offerings through horizontal and vertical axes. It also carries out a description of the archaeological material and its interpretation from the Quantitative Semiotics method. In the end, we advance an explanation about the elements in the tombs through a systemic synthesis of the components that articulate the mythical story.

Current Swedish Archaeology, 2020

At many Middle Neolithic sites in south-central Scandinavia associated with the hunter-gatherer complex known as the Pitted Ware culture, the skulls of humans and animals seem to have been treated differently from other skeletal elements. This is evident, for example, in inhumation graves lacking crania or entire skulls as well as numerous finds of cranial and mandibular fragments scattered in cultural layers or deposited in hearths and pits. Despite parallels in overall treatment and find contexts, the selective handling of human skulls has generally been regarded as a mortuary practice and thus qualitatively different from the handling of animal skulls. Focusing primarily on the head bones themselves and relating their treatment to the wider use of skeletal remains allows us to consider a more complex system of retrieving, modifying, curating and depositing crania and mandibles. Drawing on the overlapping general treatment of human and animal remains, it is suggested that head bon...