Archaeologists Reconstruct the Hillside Burial of an Ancient Shaman
Archaeologists Reconstruct the Hillside Burial of an Ancient Shaman
Kate Horowitz
Image credit: Leore Grosman
If you’re one of those cheerful people who like to plan their own funerals, start taking notes, because this one was legendary. Based on the artifacts found in a cave tomb, researchers have reconstructed the funeral rites—including extravagant feasting and elaborate rituals—for an apparently important woman who died 12,000 years ago. They published their findings in the journal Current Anthropology.
More than 8000 years before the construction of Stonehenge, the Natufian people occupied the Levant region of the eastern Mediterranean. These nomads made their homes in the woods, in the mountains, and underground, using crude tools to hunt, fish, and gather wild grains. In a wild and unpredictable world, these people created communities and worked hard to keep them together.
To do so, researchers say, the Natufians tapped into one of the most unifying of human experiences: ritual. And we now have a view of some of those rituals, thanks to the well-preserved grave of an elderly Natufian woman. The Hilazon Tachtit burial site, hidden under millennia of goat dung, soil, and other graves, was first uncovered in 2008 in the western Galilee region of modern-day Israel. At the time, Hebrew University archaeologist Leore Grosman knew she had found something special; the woman’s body was carefully positioned in her final resting place and blanketed with precious objects like seashells, an eagle’s wing, and the pelvis of a leopard. This woman had been somebody.
The woman’s remains revealed that she had been petite, old—especially for her time—and that she had likely walked with a limp. Given the proclivity of early humans to associate disability with magical powers, the researchers say it’s likely this woman was revered as a shaman.
More:
http://mentalfloss.com/article/82760/archaeologists-reconstruct-hillside-burial-ancient-shaman
