Unveiling the Journey from Bone to an Item: Exploring Bone Production and Utilization of Bone Ornaments Through Mongol Burials (XIII-XV) (original) (raw)
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Anthropozoologica, 2017
Among the five kinds of animals Mongolian herders breed (i.e. horses Equus caballus Linnaeus, 1758, camels Camelus bactrianus Linnaeus, 1758, cattle Bos taurus Linnaeus, 1758, Bos grunniens Linnaeus, 1766, and their hybrids, sheep Ovis aries Linnaeus, 1758, and goats Capra hircus Linnaeus, 1758), the horse holds a particular status, perceivable in the slaughtering techniques used and the way its skull is treated after death. Leaving horse skulls in high places (i.e. trees, mountains, and ovoos − stone cairns erected in homage to the master spirits of a place) is a common, though poorly understood, practice. This article studies the modalities of these horse skull repositories within an interdisciplinary approach, combining social anthropology and osteology. The study of the choice of place for the skulls and their associated objects highlights the differentiation processes among the horses as individuals, in relation to their lifetime status. This relation between human and horses unfolds into the landscape, which is invested with numerous ovoo cairns and horse skulls; a reminder that these spaces are shared between humans, horses and invisible entities. In the absence of private land owner ship on the Mongolian steppe and in the interest of a balanced coexistence with all the inhabitants of this shared land, we show that the horse skull repositories subtly combine honour to individual horses, respect to the master spirits of the land, and discrete appropriation of territory by herders.
Bone Tools as the Paraphernalia of Ritual Activities: a case study from Hilazon Tachtit Cave
A small bone-tool assemblage was found at the Natufian burial site of Hilazon Tachtit, Israel. This site served as a locus for funerary rituals, enabling us to consider the role of bone tools within a unique ritual context. The bone tool assemblage comprises 65 pieces; mostly modified fragments and tools, but also a few blanks and manufacture waste. The assemblage is typical of the Natufian, in that pointed implements are dominant and gazelle long bones are the most common raw material. The preferred method of manufacture is shaving. Given the nature of Hilazon Tachtit, it is likely that the bone tools were used in burial related activities. Importantly, the tools were mostly manufactured off-site, and were brought on-site intentionally. A few may have belonged to or have been given to the buried individuals at death. It is possible that the site of Hilazon Tachtit or the burial activities practiced therein held such special meaning that after their use, the tools were no longer considered fit for mundane, everyday tasks and were thus ritually abandoned among the trash from the funeral feast. The disposal of ritual detritus in this way may be a harbinger to the appearance of hoards or burials of ritually significant objects in the southern Levant during the Pre-Pottery Neolithic.
Journal of Antropologija, 2014
In this article, we would like to highlight the religious and funerary practices in the Armenian Plateau. Since the first discovered in the XIV century, the ossuaries from Lori Berd have attracted attention as possible archaeological evidence of ancient Zoroastrian burial practice. The practice involved exposing cadavers to birds before the surviving remains were gathered for deposition in burials. Ritual and ceremonial dismembering and burning, emerging in Lori Berd, focuses on honor and respect for the dead. Archaeologists discovered three detached human skulls from Shirakavan site. Three the detached human skulls are not complete and no longer have their mandibles. Since the detached skulls belong to young female and one male adult, the assumption is that these were human sacrifices rather than venerated ancestors. The Lori Berd and Shirakavan sites contained the remains of two individual with cuts indicative of scalping. Several indications of violence were observed in the materials under study. The examination of the human remains revealed that the paleopathologies encountered infectious diseases, dental diseases, etc. Among the individuals from the Shirakavan, there is a clear indication that an increased usage of muscles would occur when spears are thrown at a downward angle and the usage of muscles is consistent with the launching of spears. The clearly expressed marker of a horse rider’s pathological complex is indicated in some male burials in Armenian Plateau.
Temenos - Nordic Journal of Comparative Religion
The cult of saints and the subsequent interest in relics constituted one of the essential characteristics of medieval Western Christianity. In particular, relics and reliquaries are prime examples of the importance of materiality in devotion. In the present article we analyse one of the medieval skull relics of Turku Cathedral and its material characteristics in detail. Previous examinations undertaken in the 1920s and 1940s produced two theories of its origins and identification. By analysing the bone material and the narrative depiction of martyrdom embroidered on the silk wrapping, State Archaeologist Juhani Rinne connected the relic to St Henry, the patron saint of Finland and the cathedral, while State Archaeologist Carl Axel Nordman identified it as belonging to St Eric, the patron saint of the Kingdom of Sweden. By re-examining the central element of the skull relic, the bones, with osteological analysis and radiocarbon dating, we show both theories to be highly problematic. ...
2017
The article considers 31 nomad burials of 13th – 14th cc. containing prestigious silverware (waist bowls, ladles and goblets) discovered in the territory of nine regions of the East European Plain (Trans-Volga, Volga, Don, Cis-Caucasus, Kuban, Donets, Dnieper, Ob, Bug and Trans-Dniester regions). It is one of the most informative and expressive groups of nomadic burial inventories only available for the the representatives of the ruling elite and included in the attributes of nomadic aristocracy of 13th – 14th cc. The description of each finding is provided together with the aggregate data concerning the dating of the burials, their type and the gender of the deceased. The authors consider the role of tableware in burial rites and its correspondence the representatives of family and tribal nomadic Golden Horde aristocracy.
Early farming communities located in the ancient Near East participated in unique mortuary practices throughout the Neolithic period (9300-4700 B.C.). These practices include a "skull cult," which involved preserving and honoring human skulls apart from the rest of the skeletons. Interpretations of the meaning behind this "skull cult" have been a major focus of archaeology. In this thesis, I critique previous work interpreting the skull cult, particularly Kathleen Kenyon's theory of a venerated male ancestor skull cult, and explore Ian Kuijt's theory on the social role of these mortuary ritual practices, giving insight into the emergence and evolution of social complexity within these developing societies. Ethnographic accounts supporting Kuijt's theory of community-based mortuary practices and their significance in understanding the societal structure during the Neolithic period suggest that while people of the Neolithic Near East were preserving the skeletal remains of their ancestors, it may not have been for veneration purposes, but rather a mortuary rite allowing the deceased to transition to the afterlife, all while preserving and renewing the social relationships involved in the community.