PREHISTORIC NORTH AMERICA Then the scrape of a trowel tip uncovered a human tooth in the dirt among the crushed pottery and broken spearheads. Two more followed, and a startling realization emerged with them: the bones on the hilltop were human, with marks suggesting they were deliberately smashed as part of a prehistoric ritual. Since that discovery last year, the spot known as Pig Point has become a tantalizing window into prehistoric gatherings on the hilltop thousands of years ago. While burial sites are relatively common, ancient ceremonial sites as deep and well preserved as the one believed to be atop Pig Point are extremely unusual. “Habitation sites are everywhere,” said Dr. Luckenbach, the archaeologist for Anne Arundel County. “Ritual sites — that’ll only be a few places. Boy, were we lucky to blunder into this one.” He believes that the hillside, on private land about eight miles west of Chesapeake Bay, may have been a regional mortuary, where objects like spearheads and stone jewelry were ritually smashed — “killed,” along with bones of the deceased. The absence of many larger bones, like pelvises and ribs, suggests that the smashed remains were collected and buried elsewhere. Darrin L. Lowery, a University of Delaware archaeologist and a former Smithsonian Institution research fellow, called the site “almost like a prehistoric funeral home.” But it is more than that, he said. “It’s a very sacred funeral home.” nytimes/2013/10/15/science/a-maryland-hills-prehistoric-secret.html?hpw
Posted on: Tue, 15 Oct 2013 17:28:27 +0000
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