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Ancient Headless Skeletons Found In Island Grave
Live Science ^ | 10-29-2007 | Jeanna Bryner

Posted on 10/30/2007 8:14:22 PM PDT by blam

Ancient Headless Skeletons Found in Island Grave

By Jeanna Bryner, LiveScience Staff Writer
posted: 29 October 2007 11:36 am ET

More than fifty headless skeletons have been unearthed in one of the oldest Pacific Islander cemeteries in the world.

The individuals were members of a socially complex society, traveling between islands hundreds of miles away, a new study suggests.
The finding could solve a long-held debate over whether the Lapita people, thought to be ancestors of the Polynesians, were isolated on individual islands or interacted with other distant Lapita tribes to find marriage partners, exchange information and maintain social ties. Results, detailed in the October issue of the journal American Antiquity, paint a picture of the ancient people as expert seafarers.

"The real question is did they live in isolation or did they keep in communication with the islands that might have been further back in their ancestry, because they generally spread from west to east across the Pacific," said lead author Alex Bentley, an anthropologist at Durham University in the UK.

The 3,000-year-old skeletons were uncovered in 2003 at an archaeological site on Efate Island, part of Vanuatu in the South Pacific. None of the buried individuals had a skull attached to the skeleton, though one male was adorned with three skulls lying on his chest.

Though archaeologists over the past 50 years or so have discovered more than 200 Lapita sites, until now these had yielded just 15 to 20 individuals. Finding a graveyard of tens of skeletons could yield a trove of insights into how these people lived.

“This site is that much more extraordinary due to the fact that it is the earliest and by far the largest cemetery ever

(Excerpt) Read more at livescience.com ...


TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: alexbentley; ancientautopsies; ancientnavigation; anciwnt; efateisland; godsgravesglyphs; island; lapita; navigation; pacific; polynesians; skeletons
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1 posted on 10/30/2007 8:14:24 PM PDT by blam
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To: SunkenCiv
GGG Ping.

A man buried with three skulls and a mandible or jawbone on his chest in a cemetery unearthed on Efate Island, Vanuatu in the South Pacific. Credit: Hallie Buckley/University of Otago

2 posted on 10/30/2007 8:17:28 PM PDT by blam (Secure the border and enforce the law)
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To: blam
though one male was adorned with three skulls lying on his chest

Over-achiever.

3 posted on 10/30/2007 8:27:45 PM PDT by SIDENET (Hubba Hubba...)
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To: blam

They sound like headhunters to me.


4 posted on 10/30/2007 8:33:15 PM PDT by Nachoman (My guns and my ammo, they comfort me.)
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To: Nachoman
New Lapita Find Re-dates Known Fiji Settlers (Jomon/Ainu)
5 posted on 10/30/2007 8:36:17 PM PDT by blam (Secure the border and enforce the law)
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To: All

At last, proof that some of our ancestors had no heads. This should turn evolutionary science on its shoulders.


6 posted on 10/30/2007 8:36:24 PM PDT by KarinG1 (Opinions expressed in this post are my own and do not necessarily represent those of sane people.)
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To: KarinG1

LOL!


7 posted on 10/30/2007 8:39:08 PM PDT by doc1019 (Fred Thompson '08)
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To: SIDENET
though one male was adorned with three skulls lying on his chest

Three heads are better than one.

8 posted on 10/30/2007 8:41:14 PM PDT by Lijahsbubbe
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To: KarinG1
"At last, proof that some of our ancestors had no heads."

I used to date a girl with no neck.

9 posted on 10/30/2007 8:42:31 PM PDT by Joe 6-pack (Que me amat, amet et canem meum)
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To: Lijahsbubbe
Three heads are better than one.

Heck, three heads are better than two.

10 posted on 10/30/2007 8:48:16 PM PDT by SIDENET (Hubba Hubba...)
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To: Nachoman
No no!

They were a "socially complex society".

/s

11 posted on 10/30/2007 8:48:54 PM PDT by BenLurkin
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To: Joe 6-pack

Other than that, was she good looking?


12 posted on 10/30/2007 8:49:46 PM PDT by SIDENET (Hubba Hubba...)
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To: Nachoman
They sound like headhunters to me.

Or prehistoric muslims........

13 posted on 10/30/2007 8:50:24 PM PDT by Red Badger ( We don't have science, but we have consensus.......)
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To: SIDENET

Doh! LOL


14 posted on 10/30/2007 8:52:15 PM PDT by Lijahsbubbe
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To: SIDENET
"Other than that, was she good looking?"

She wasn't particularly attractive, but she had a good head on her shoulders 8-D

15 posted on 10/30/2007 8:52:57 PM PDT by Joe 6-pack (Que me amat, amet et canem meum)
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To: Joe 6-pack

LOL.


16 posted on 10/30/2007 9:01:31 PM PDT by SIDENET (Hubba Hubba...)
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To: BenLurkin
They were a "socially complex society".

Gotta embrace that 'Diversity' dontcha know.

-ccm

17 posted on 10/30/2007 11:17:52 PM PDT by ccmay (Too much Law; not enough Order.)
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To: Joe 6-pack
"I used to date a girl with no neck."

I used to date a girl with no necking.

(But not for very long...)

18 posted on 10/30/2007 11:23:59 PM PDT by TXnMA ("Allah": Satan's current alias...)
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To: Joe 6-pack
I used to date a girl with no neck.

When she walked into the room, all heads would turn. Except for hers. Because she had no neck.

19 posted on 10/30/2007 11:28:00 PM PDT by ReignOfError
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To: blam; StayAt HomeMother; Ernest_at_the_Beach; 1ofmanyfree; 24Karet; 3AngelaD; 49th; ...

· join list or digest · view topics · view or post blog · bookmark · post a topic ·

 
Gods
Graves
Glyphs
Thanks Blam.

To all -- please ping me to other topics which are appropriate for the GGG list.
GGG managers are Blam, StayAt HomeMother, and Ernest_at_the_Beach
 

· Google · Archaeologica · ArchaeoBlog · Archaeology magazine · Biblical Archaeology Society ·
· Mirabilis · Texas AM Anthropology News · Yahoo Anthro & Archaeo ·
· History or Science & Nature Podcasts · Excerpt, or Link only? · cgk's list of ping lists ·


20 posted on 10/31/2007 2:46:18 AM PDT by SunkenCiv (Profile updated Monday, October 22, 2007. https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/)
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