News - Researchers Discover Neolithic Skull Ritual - Archaeology Magazine

MASSERIA CANDELARO, ITALY -- According to a statement released by the University of Cambridge, archaeologists have reanalyzed a collection of some 400 skull fragments unearthed at the Neolithic village of Masseria Candelaro in Italy's Apulia region. The team was surprised to find that the fragments represented some 15 males who lived over the course of two centuries, or perhaps eight generations, and that they showed no evidence of violent injury or cannibalism. The fact that the skulls were both highly fragmented and very smooth suggests to the researchers that they might have been handled during rituals celebrating the villagers' ancestors. Perhaps when the residents of Masseria Candelaro decided to end this tradition they buried the fragments of their ancestors together. Read the original scholarly article about this research in European Journal of Archaeology. To read in-depth about prehistoric rituals in Apulia, go to "Italian Master Builders."