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Article: Cattle skulls offer grave clues. (cattle had symbolic and ritual value during Late Stone Age and Bronze Age) (Brief Article)
- Article from:
- Science News
- Article date:
- April 10, 1993
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1993 Science Service, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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In 1986, archaeologists working at a British site known as Irthlingborough uncovered a burial pit containing the skeleton of a man surrounded by various signs of wealth, including a long-necked beaker, a flint dagger, an amber ring, and a boar's tusk. The finely crafted items, more than 4,000 years old, marked the decreased as a person of high status.
An examination of animal bones found among collapsed limestone bricks that once formed a mantle for the burial site now indicates that Late Stone Age and Bronze Age residents of the area invested cattle with great symbolic and ritual value.
The remains of at least 185 skulls and smaller numbers of lower ...