Tag Archives: buried

Mayan Elite: Why Their Teeth Were Buried in Remote Caves Instead of Graves

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Mayan Ruins of Xunantunich, Belize

Michael Robinson/Getty Images

The teeth of prominent Mayans were extracted and stored in caves well away from their burial sites. This act may have been a way to venerate ancestors or ensure their safe passage to the underworld.

During the Classic period (250-900 CE), Maya civilizations flourished across present-day southern Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, and northern Honduras. While they communicated in various languages, they shared a unified political and religious framework that emphasized lineage and ritual legitimacy. Consequently, the deceased held significant importance, with living family members often keeping the remains of ancestors within their homes, either beneath the floor or within the walls.

Esther Brielle and her team from Harvard University analyzed remains from various burial sites in Belize during the Classic period to trace familial connections among those interred. They successfully extracted genomic data from hundreds of samples and employed radiocarbon dating to ascertain the lifespan of each individual.

The investigation uncovered that 341 samples corresponded to 107 distinct individuals, while skeletal elements of 24 of those individuals were located in two separate locations. These sites included tombs situated in the plaza beneath the Mayan dwelling known as Mukrebal Tzul, and Batub Cave, located 26.5 kilometers away across the Maya Mountains.

Within the cave, a total of 226 teeth belonging to at least 24 individuals were discovered arranged near the remains of adult women. One particular individual had her head replaced by a vessel containing a jade bead. Fragments of a skull, possibly belonging to her, and a toothless mandible were found close to her pelvis alongside a large assortment of teeth and an inverted bowl containing five cocoa seeds. An ornate orange bowl adorned with mythical hummingbird and snake motifs sat nearby.

Genome analysis indicates this woman was an ancestor of individuals interred in elite tombs. Collections of grave goods suggest her association with the royal lineage, as noted by Brielle and her colleagues, who opted not to comment further.

The researchers suggest that other members of high society might have feigned ancestral connections to bolster their status. “They may have linked themselves biologically or ideologically to their ancestors to legitimize their power,” states Mirco de Tomassi from Ludwig-Maximilians-University in Munich, Germany.

Genomic evidence reveals that only elite members of Mukrebal society deposited teeth within the cave.

“Caves were considered sacred spaces as they served as entrances to the underworld, Xibalba,” asserts Angelina Locker from Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee. She speculates that elite individuals might have been the only ones permitted to enter this “mouth” of the underworld, a proposed site for spiritual communication and connection to the supernatural forces that the Maya believed animated their world.

Locker further posits that upper-class members may have visited the caves to honor their ancestors and confirm their safe arrival in Xibalba. Her research elaborates on how the Maya viewed the body as divided into four components, one of which exists in the mouth and symbolizes the soul’s breath.

Asta Land, a professor at Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń, Poland, remarked that teeth may have been selected due to their resilience, as they held significant cultural importance within Maya society. Dental modifications were common, and individuals would either repair or embed jewels in their teeth. “We believe a portion of the teeth may have come from burial sites, but it’s also feasible they were extracted during one’s lifetime,” she added.

Rocker concluded that the teeth hold symbolic significance related to corn kernels and the idea of rebirth. “This may have represented a way for the Maya to extract a tooth and plant it in Xibalba’s mouth to facilitate that person’s rebirth,” she said.

Regardless of the reasons behind the teeth’s deposition, it likely required several days of arduous travel through challenging terrain to reach the cave. De Tomassi likens this to Mayan pilgrimage practices, such as visiting sacred cenotes to leave offerings at Chichen Itza in Mexico.

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Source: www.newscientist.com

Roman scrolls buried under volcanic ash finally deciphered in 2000

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Pherc.172 scroll revealed by X-ray imaging

Vesuvius Challenge

Ancient Roman scrolls were read for the first time since they were burned by a volcanic eruption on Mount Vesuvius two thousand years ago, thanks to artificial intelligence and powerful X-ray facilities.

The Papyrus scroll is one of the 1800s rescued from a single room in the ornate villas of the Roman town of Herculaneum in the 1750s, and is now the Italian town of El Corano. They were all carbonated by the heat of the volcanic debris that buried them.

Initially, locals unconsciously burned the scroll as fire, but were preserved when it was discovered to contain text. About 200 were then painstakingly opened and read by laborious mechanical devices. Based on the clock, you will get scrolls in millimeters slowly engraved.

Three of these scrolls were kept at the Bodrian Library at Oxford University, and was talented in 1804 by the future King George IV. At the time, the Wales Rince exchanged kangaroo troops for the Napurites of Ferdinand IV in exchange for scrolls. (The King of Naples had built an elaborate garden and animal collection for his lover.)

One of these three scrolls known as PEREC.172 has been imaged and analyzed using machine learning algorithms. Scanned with a diamond light source in Oxfordshire, there is a very powerful X-ray device known as the Synchrotron, and the resulting data is now available. Vesuvius Challenge – Competition with the $700,000 Grand Prize for interpreting text from scrolls.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e5xmdspramo

This method says it is much better than trying to mechanically open the scroll, Peter TossCurator of the Bodrian Library. “The only problem, or risk, is that imaging is so special that it can't be done here. That means the scroll has to leave the facility, and we're very nervous about it. I did,” he says.

Researchers have so far revealed several columns of approximately 26 lines of text in each column. Scholars now want to read the entire scroll, but we can already see the ancient Greek word Διατροπή, meaning “aversion.” Toth suspects it somehow relates to a philosopher EpiclassAs many other scrolls found on the same site have.

Felk. The 172 was the only one of the three scrolls from the Bodleian Library that seemed stable enough to move, only in a specially 3D printed case within another padded box. “The hope is that technology can improve dramatically. [in the future] Items don't have to travel anywhere, but technology can come to us,” says Toth.

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Source: www.newscientist.com

Iron Age people may have buried their beloved pets, such as dogs and horses along with them

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Remains of dog and baby girl buried in Seminario Vescoville near Verona, Italy

Laffranchi et al. (CC-BY 4.0)

Late Iron Age people in northern Italy were sometimes buried with dogs and horses. Probably because they loved dogs and horses.

Archaeologists often suspect that the ancient worldwide custom of placing animals in human graves is associated with higher socio-economic status, beliefs about the afterlife, or certain family traditions. I was there. However, after thorough investigation, researchers say they are now beginning to suspect that such “community burials” may have simply been expressions of love for devoted non-human family members. Marco Mirella At the University of Bern, Switzerland.

He and his colleagues reexamined bones excavated from the 2,200-year-old Seminario Vescoville cemetery just east of Verona, Italy. There, the Cenomani lived in metal-making communities before and during the Roman conquest.

Most of the 161 graves discovered at the site contained only human remains, but 16 graves also contained whole or partial animal remains. Twelve of the items were pork or beef products, apparently food offerings to the deceased. Zita Laffranchialso at the University of Bern.

However, the remaining four were buried with dogs and/or horses, which were not used for food by the group. Among them were a middle-aged man with a small dog, a young man with part of a horse, a 9-month-old baby girl alongside the dog, and, most unexpectedly, a pony. She was a middle-aged woman. She had a dog’s head placed above her and a dog’s head placed above her head.

“At first, the excavators were surprised to find human legs under the horses, and their first idea was that there were horsemen here, there were warriors.” LaFranch says. However, the woman was buried unarmed, suggesting that her association with the 1.3 meter tall pony had nothing to do with the war.

The researchers found no particular trends in the age of the people buried with the animals, and DNA analysis suggested they were not genetically related to each other. Chemical analysis of these corpses Dietary differences related to socio-economic status were also not revealed compared to human-only graves.

The findings suggest that ancient people may have felt a strong connection to their animals and therefore chose to bury their loved ones with them, the researchers said. “And why not?” says Mirella. “You can never rule that out.”

Another explanation, the researchers added, is that the animals may have had symbolic meaning for the afterlife. For example, in Gallo-Roman religion, The Celtic horse goddess Epona was believed to protect individuals after death..And what about Gallo Romance? Sometimes dogs are associated with the afterlife.. In fact, burying dogs with infants may even have had a purpose: Protecting parents from future baby loss.

Still, the animals in the graves appear to have benefited from careful human care, rather than as disposable livestock. The dog in particular appears to have been fed human food and is showing signs of wound treatment and healing.

So it’s also possible that people were buried with animals for both symbolic and affectionate reasons, Mirella said.

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Source: www.newscientist.com