ARCHAEOLOGISTS have been left baffled after uncovering a 7,000-year-old mass grave full of human bones.
The pit full of headless skeletons is thought to be a result of a “complex burial ritual”.
Experts excavating the ditch have explained that while cut marks on the remains suggest that decapitation took place, it’s believed that this was done after death.
The pit was discovered at the entrance to the Stone Age town of Vráble in western Slovakia.
The settlement is believed to have been occupied by the creators of the Linear Pottery culture. The ancient pottery known for its parallel line designs has been found across Europe.
Work to uncover the ditch first began in 2022 when the team of archaeologists found four pairs of headless skeletons along with a mass grave containing 77 more.
One skeleton, belonging to a child, was found with the head still connected.
The excavation is still underway, but the initial findings have no been published in the in the Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society.
Scientists and historians working on the project are unsure why the skeletons appear to have had their heads removed post-mortem and it is not known if violence played a role in their deaths.
Headless bodies have been found in other European burial sites. However the skulls belonging to the headless skeletons in Vráble have not been found, making it particularly unusual.
Source : https://www.the-sun.com/tech/16479263/headless-skeletons-mass-grave-baffles-archaeologists/
