Gwen Robbins Schug looks at a Harappan human bone at the Anthropological Survey of India in Calcutta
Posted on 12/04/2011 8:32:52 PM PST by SunkenCiv
A study of human bones from the ruins of Harappa has revealed signs of lethal interpersonal violence and challenged current thinking that the ancient Indus civilisation was an exceptionally peaceful realm for its inhabitants.
An American bioarchaeologist has said that her analysis of skeletal remains from Harappa kept at the Anthropological Survey of India, Calcutta, suggests that women, children and individuals with visible infectious diseases were at a high risk of facing violence.
Gwen Robbins Schug studied the skeletal remains of 160 individuals from cemeteries of Harappa excavated during the 20th century. The burial practices and injuries on these bones may be interpreted as evidence for social hierarchy, unequal power, uneven access to resources, and outright violence, she said in a presentation earlier this week at a meeting of the American Anthropological Association in Montreal, Canada...
She found signs of accidental injuries on skeletal parts, but the majority of head injuries appeared to be the result of clubbing. The prevalence of such head injuries was about six per cent -- a low figure for an ancient state-society. However, the distribution of the head injuries across gender and class appeared striking.
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraphindia.com ...
Gwen Robbins Schug looks at a Harappan human bone at the Anthropological Survey of India in Calcutta
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| GGG managers are SunkenCiv, StayAt HomeMother & Ernest_at_the_Beach | |
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[singing] haah, haah, haah, they call it Harappa... |
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A University of Cambridge archaeologist Jane McIntosh had about a decade ago in her book on the Indus civilisation described it as an exceptionally “peaceful realm” where everyone led a comfortable existence under the benevolent leadership of a dedicated priesthood.
For decades they said pretty much the same about the Maya and the Anasazi, and probably other ancient cultures I'm not as familiar with.
Then they deciphered the Maya script and found they were as dedicated to warfare and public torture as any people in history.
And they found that at least some of the Anasazi were cannibals and quite possibly into genocide and human sacrifice. Why this should have been a surprise is beyond me, given the pretty obvious defensive nature of the cliff dwellings. But for a long time the PC view was that the cliff dwellings had nothing to do with defense.
These folks hate war and constantly reinvent the fantasy of a golden age in the past where it didn't exist. Often combined with the mythical matriarchal society.
All this of course tells us nothing at all about ancient societies and quite a bit about the modern idiots claiming to interpret them. They never seem to give any consideration to what would actually happen to a peaceful society in contact with a warlike one.
A sword cut is mentioned. They had swords back then?
Also ties into modern Indian politics.
For some obscure reason some Indians find the notion that the Indo portion of the Indo-European languages were brought in by invaders to be degrading to India. I’ve never quite been able to figure out why. These languages were equally brought to Persia and Europe by invaders, and nobody in these countries finds the notion disturbing in any way.
But many Indians subscribe to the somewhat idiotic notion that the IO languages originated in India and spread by migrations out of India. Despite the fact that we have thousands of years of history of dozens or hundreds of migrations/invasions into India and none in the other direction.
You all up to go clubbing? Bust a move?
I didn’t quite get that part.
They routinely whacked the women on the head but not the men? That’s pretty much the opposite of every society I’m aware of. Including our own.
Sharp rock, sword. The Agony and the Ecstasy...
NOOOOOO . . . Not Gender Discrimination.
Things are a lot safer there now, as most of the unruly types migrated to the south side of Chicago quite some time ago.
They were Bronze Age. You can make a decent sword out of bronze, though they were very expensive and thus usually limited to high aristocracy.
The Trojan war guys found with bronze weapons.
Interestingly, when iron working became widespread it caused the collapse of societies around the world and led to centuries of Dark Age.
Based on tooth enamel. It must be true.
The men got to spill their guts out over their knees, by their own hand. The women and kids got a killing stroke to the head. Merciful.
They routinely whacked the women on the head but not the men?
The good old days...
Modern ideas of “peace” and dignity to all, came from Christianity. Without the Christian paradigm and the concept of Mary as the Mother of God— equality only consisted for a few select groups.....never women.
There was rampant brutality and slavery, rampant child abuse and infanticide, rampant homosexuality and pederasty and no dignity and worth given to women. This was in all corners of the pagan/occultist/atheist world.
The Jews who established marriage as between one man and one woman —and the Old Testament was the Foundation of Christianity along with Aristotle’s Ethics and parts of Plato and all of Cicero.
Islam is a regression to the pagan world of Persia—extremely brutal, homosexual and hateful of women and butchered children....not like the Greek world which had a respect for philosophy and wisdom although they also had rampant homosexuality and pederasty....but their thinking through the Stoics led to Cicero and the Age of Reason in the Western World.
Slow down there Turbo. What was the name of the guy whose face "Launched A Thousand Ships"???
Well, it was Helenus. But then Xena promised Homer she'd sleep with him if he changed "Helenus" to "Helen."
Then Xena ran off with Midas, who promised her a lot of gold...and free mufflers.
That was dignity and worth for beauty. Beauty and harmony (perfection) were ideals of Ancient Greece.....men in that age were just as likely (actually MORE likely) to be in love with a beautiful young boy-—Read Plato. Pederasty and homosexuality were common and superior to heterosexuality.
http://www.livius.org/ho-hz/homosexuality/homosexuality.html
You are tempocentric, sir, judging peace by the standards of your own era.
Gee, Sherman, I hate to break this to you: DNA proves that theory of an invasion from the north in India to be false. It was the other way ‘round!
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