2023 Author: Bryan Walter | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-05-21 22:24
An archaeologist from Arizona saw similarities between the ostentatious cruelty of the ancient Indians and the current representatives of the underworld.
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The bodies buried by family members lie in a crumpled position on their side (left). Atypical burial (right) - body in an inverted position
Bio-archaeologist James Watson, deputy director of the Arizona State Museum, discovered a number of atypical burials in the Sonoran Desert dating back to the early agriculture period (between 2100 BC and 50 AD).
Burials thousands of years old in the Sonoran Desert resemble those of today. The bodies of those who had departed to another world, as a rule, were interred with respect to the earth, in accordance with certain rituals. However, some bodies, apparently, were thrown into the grave at random. On such remains, experts found injuries, including posthumous ones - indicating that people were first killed and then abused over the bodies.
Watson's research is published in the journal Current Anthropology. Watson claims his findings help to understand the social and biological factors that could lead to violent murders and strange burials. According to the scientist, these factors may be relevant even today.
The bodies from the atypical graves examined by Watson show signs of violent death - fractures or holes left by arrowheads. But most eloquent of all is the position of the bodies in the graves. Usually the bodies in the burials lay on their sides in a crumpled position - here they were casually thrown in unnatural positions. In addition, there was a lack of standard funerary attributes that would be present if the bodies were buried by family members.
“These people were buried very differently from the rest of the community, and we are trying to understand why this happened,” Watson writes. "We are trying to prove that the way the bodies were thrown into these pits is part of the act of desecrating the body."
It is possible that those killed were accused of witchcraft. However, given that the corpses were not dismembered - as was usually done with sorcerers, Watson offers an alternative explanation. In his report, he argues that the remains probably belong to victims of blood feud or family feuds. The researcher believes that the violence within the framework of these ongoing civil strife is ingrained into the very foundations of society and became part of the culture.
Atypical burial often includes broken bones and other signs of a violent death
“This happened just when agriculture came to the region and the very first settled settlements appeared here. So we think violent incidents are linked to population growth problems, says Watson. Social tensions developed between communities, or even within individual communities, and ultimately resulted in outbreaks of violence. Ancient farmers sought to achieve high status in the community, demonstrating their valor and, including, ostentatious cruelty towards other members of the community.
Although the work of the Arizona researcher focuses on events that took place 2-4 thousand years ago, he suggests that the results of the study may find application in our days.
“Given some of the challenges we see today - for example, the increase in violence and murder in many cities, gunfights with the police, revenge on the police - many children grow up in a brutal environment, and they learn different patterns of interacting with their environment with everyone. his shortcomings, Watson writes. “They raise their status by showing brutality. This is how respect is achieved, along with which they receive a potential advantage in the form of wealth, women and offspring."
According to publications in the media, in northern Mexico, members of drug cartels to this day regularly commit mass atrocities, accompanied by desecration of corpses and a public display of mutilated bodies. We see that thousands of years later, people continue to follow ancient behavioral patterns.
Sources of
James T. Watson and Danielle O. Phelps Violence and Perimortem Signaling among Early Irrigation Communities in the Sonoran Desert Current Antropology, vol. 57, no. 5, 2016
Ancient Burials Suggestive of Blood Feuds
