Near the Iceman's knee, a cross-shaped tattoo still stands out on his leathery skin. It may have been a folk remedy for arthritic joint pain.
... or .... I guess we will never know the truth.
Nope....It’s totally personal...Defacing and degrading human beings is simply wrong. Society lived without it for millions of years.
FWIW, I think that human remains should be treated with respect and dignity. If that was done in this case, the article certainly didn’t convey that.
One out of 10 deaths in the US results in an autopsy.
Near the Iceman's knee, a cross-shaped tattoo still stands out on his leathery skin. It may have been a folk remedy for arthritic joint pain.
... or .... I guess we will never know the truth.
“Society” hasn’t existed for “millions of years.” Homo sapiens itself has only been around for 200,000 years or so.
But even overlooking your vast exaggeration, your premise is still incorrect. Look at he treatment of corpses in the oldest civilization we have written records of - the Egyptian, dating from 3200 BC. There certainly WAS dismemberment of the dead human body from society’s earliest days. The earliest canopic jars date from the dynasty of Huni, 2637 - 2613 BC. Having your viscera all pulled out and stuffed into 4 jars (so that you can more easily find them in the afterlife) should certainly constitute “defacing and degrading human beings.”
Of course, there’s also the argument that slavery, as it has been practiced since time immemorial, also constitutes “defacing and degrading human beings.” It’s estimated that there are presently over 20 million people in slavery today, from servants in the Sudan to child carpet weavers in India. You may feel just as strongly against that, as well.
However, it shoots your theory that “society did without it” to pieces. If you give humans the freedom to treat other humans like dirt, without fear of retribution or sanction, they will do just that.