back to article Anthropology boffins solve 9,000-year-old headless body cold case

The oldest case of human decapitation has been uncovered by scientists in Brazil – some 9,000 years after the ritual was originally performed. The body was found in the rock shelter of Lapa do Santo in 2007. Amputated hands were found laid over the face of the skull, with v-shaped cut marks on the jaw and sixth cervical …

  1. Florida1920

    I'd sure like to know

    By what thought process someone powerful enough to force the decapitation arrived at the conclusion that doing it was a good idea. Then again, I suppose one look no further than ISIS/ISIL and their ilk to see "modern" applications of the same thought (?) processes.

    1. Youngdog

      Re: I'd sure like to know

      Like most things you just don't know until you try

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: I'd sure like to know

      "Though it may seem bizarre today, having your heart buried apart from the rest of your body wasn’t uncommon for European aristocracy of the Middle Ages and beyond." (http://mentalfloss.com/uk/history/28820/10-people-whose-hearts-were-buried-separately-from-the-rest-of-them)

      If you're going to bury the heart separately, why not the head?

      I seem to remember that some English king has body parts scattered throughout the realm...

      1. Trigonoceps occipitalis

        Re: I'd sure like to know

        And Dr. Livingstone's heart is in Scotland.

    3. ingie
      Alien

      Re: I'd sure like to know

      ... your point raises an interesting anthropological thought:

      there tends to be a regular stream of programmes about the Incas and their ilk... Dr Jago Cooper's excellent series just being repeated on BBC being a current example.

      in these series, there tends to be a reverence toward their culture, a degree of awe.

      would some alien civilisation, watching us from afar, have an objective view which saw little difference between Decapitating Culture-A and Decapitating Culture-B... and find it rather odd that we create many tomes glorifying the culture of one (admittedly not directly the head choppy business) because it's old and gone, but decry the other...

      obviously, i'm not being apologist or supporting either in terms of our modern advanced - "civilised" society... but aliens probably think we're a bit confused and stay away for that reason alone.

      makes you think that maybe IS just have a fashion problem, if they dressed in funky colourful head gear, built pointy temples, worshipped mountains and jaguars and danced a bit more, maybe people would like them better...

      [ note to anyone who doesn't read irony: i don't believe that ]

      ..

    4. Just Enough

      Re: I'd sure like to know

      There's no end of cultural differences that could exist between us and the society that did this. Their attitudes to death, individuality and decapitation could have been quite different. For all we know this person could have been delighted to end their days in this manner.

      It's always folly to apply current attitudes and mores to historical events. And this is so far back it's madness to criticise. What we regard as natural and right is as much a product of our own culture as it was 9000 years ago.

      1. Eddy Ito

        Re: I'd sure like to know

        I didn't see in the linked article where they said the individual was killed by decapitation or if merely the corpse was decapitated. Perhaps the headless person simply choked on a bone and died and everyone else figured they needed to remove the head so he could breathe in the after-ether-misty place.

    5. Pascal Monett Silver badge

      Re: the conclusion that doing it was a good idea

      Given that people being slaughtered were a dime a dozen in those days, I'm not convinced that anybody really asked themselves that kind of question.

      It was just another way to die.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: the conclusion that doing it was a good idea

        'Given that people being slaughtered were a dime a dozen in those days, I'm not convinced that anybody really asked themselves that kind of question."

        That's not a thing. Tribal peoples without intensive agriculture tend to have small populations. Because of human scarcity they tended to treasure life, and their wars were small local affairs with few casualties. They could not afford a high loss rate as with the 20th century wars when populations were quite ample for major slaughters.

        Today we pay lip-service to the idea of human life being worth something, passing idiotic laws that cost billions for each life saved, but too many of us turn away from the spectacle of pre-borns being chopped up for parts. Ancient people rejoiced when births occured, and they would be horrified at modern-day abortion practices.

        IMO, those long ago people were probably more ethical and moral than 90% of people alive today.

        1. TheMole

          Re: the conclusion that doing it was a good idea

          Ah, there's nothing like rose-tinted spectacles !

          https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_Before_Civilization

          http://www.economist.com/node/10278703

    6. eesiginfo

      Re: I'd sure like to know

      I think that while the article, discusses the method of the killing..... in fact it is little more than another 'common or garden' 'offering in the hope for gain'.

      This thinking is still prevalent today, with people chucking money into wishing wells.

      It is probably closely associated with that other weird belief - that of suffering pain, to become better.

      Whether it is crawling on your hands and knees for miles, to visit a shrine, or wearing a hair-shirt etc.

      It really does appear that this thinking is in our DNA, and only rational thought can overcome it.

      As rational thought is limited to a fairly small percentage of humanity, it seems fair to say, that from an intuitive perspective, it is logical that: taking pain, or giving something away provides benefit.

      AND taking more pain, and giving something very important (like a life) is more likely to result in bigger gains.

      1. Cynic_999

        Re: I'd sure like to know

        It is a very prevalent part of most cultures that things that give pleasure are bad, and things that cause pain or discomfort are good. Pleasure is only acceptable if the person has worked hard (i.e. suffered discomfort) to achieve it. The "work ethic" is part of that belief. I'm sure it is also a big part of the reason why sex is seen as "dirty" or taboo.

  2. Richard Wharram

    Impossible

    Decapitations before the universe was created??

    Devilry!

    1. Annihilator

      Re: Impossible

      Universe?? There is only the earth and the heavens

      1. Richard Wharram

        Re: Impossible

        OMG, then I'm a heretic. Burn me!

      2. Trigonoceps occipitalis

        Re: Impossible

        I trust you know that The Earth is at the centre? Oh, and that it's flat?

        1. John Brown (no body) Silver badge
          Trollface

          Re: Impossible

          "I trust you know that The Earth is at the centre? "

          Yes, and observations of the universe, eg red-shift of all remote objects "proves" that too. Everything is moving away from us ergo we are at the centre!

        2. Mike Rowesoft

          Re: Impossible

          Err,not truly flat...everybody knows the edges curve under like a frisbee...

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Head Hunters

    So IT head hunters existed 9000 years ago?

  4. This post has been deleted by its author

  5. Voland's right hand Silver badge

    Off with his head

    I like tadpoles on toast. Almost as much as I like caviar.

  6. BlartVersenwaldIII
    Holmes

    They concluded that the body was a member of the group, and that the decapitation was likely to be a ritualised decapitation, instead of trophy-taking.

    Might this suggest that the butler did it?

  7. choleric

    Like parent like child

    Ah, human beings, we are so messed up aren't we?

  8. JeffyPoooh
    Pint

    Cause of death?

    It seems like most ancient bodies found exhibit signs of violence.

    Speed of Human Migration - as fast as they can run...

  9. lawndart

    "They concluded that the body was a member of the group, and that the decapitation was likely to be a ritualised decapitation, instead of trophy-taking."

    The body was a member but the head - damned splitter.

  10. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Now now, decapitation is nothing to lose your head over.

  11. Your alien overlord - fear me

    Maybe Brazil had a nice Chianti back then?

    1. BlartVersenwaldIII
      Headmaster

      Sadly you reference is factually incorrect; fava beans weren't introduced to south america until the european settlers took it with them. But I can attest to the quality of the 7000BC Chateau de Crzjgrdwldiwdc Chianti, it's the best prehistoric wine you can get these days since Fortnums sold their last crate of Van do Chinnant Onyx.

  12. Hollerith 1

    How can they tell?

    "ritualised decapitation, instead of trophy-taking"

    What exactly would be the difference? Are trophy-takers universally messy and quick, chopping fast, while decaptators are slow and careful? Or are they making it up out of whole cloth from a few v-shaped cuts?

    1. Pascal Monett Silver badge

      I would suggest that ritualized death would be cleaner, more precise, given that the victim would be either consenting or incapable of resisting (tied down, etc), whereas trophy taking would imply more wounds to beat the victim into helplessness, or maybe a different sort of wound to cut the head off (as in great swipe of a blade horizontally, which would have a devil of a time leaving a v-mark in the back of the neck).

  13. Brian Miller

    Post-mortem decapitation

    According to other articles, the deceased was decapitated after he died. Apparently the tribe decapitated everybody, not just the ones they killed for trophies.

    1. Michael H.F. Wilkinson Silver badge
      Coat

      Re: Post-mortem decapitation

      Maybe their coffins were just not quite long enough

      Sorry, I'll get me coat

  14. x 7

    My guess is they cut the head and hands off and ate the rest. Plenty of cannibal tribes in the Americas.

    Kept the head as a memoriam to the dead, the hands weren't worth cooking - too bony, not enough flesh

  15. akeane

    They will be...

    ... Miles away by now

  16. Pen-y-gors

    "a bit late to catch the killers"

    I dunno, I'm sure the Met are happy to investigate 9000 year old cases as part of operation Yewtree.

  17. Sceptic Tank Silver badge
    Facepalm

    Heads must roll over this.

    "Amputated hands were found laid over the face of the skull" ... Earliest form of facepalm uncovered.

    The undertaker kept a cool head.

    What's the IT angle? Head to attend postmortem meeting?

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