Rituals revolving around human sacrifices as part of old traditions often surface from different corners of the globe. Now, scientists have excavated skeletons at Saint-Paul-Trois–Châteaux, a Neolithic tomb in France’s Rhône Valley that points towards human sacrifices. Archaeologists have found skeletons of women. According to the findings, their heads were tied to their legs to force them to asphyxiate before they were buried alive.
Scientists have excavated multiple sites across Europe that suggest human sacrifice from the Neolithic era, similar to the site at Saint-Paul-Trois–Châteaux. Women were tied alive following the “incapratemento” method. Their heads were pulled to their backs and tied up with their legs. This method took at least a few hours to steal the lives of the women.
Two of the skeletons dug out from the site suggest ritualised murder. The other skeleton of the woman suggests natural death and burial. As per reports, the two women were younger. They were pressed against the ground with heavy stones. A paper published in Science Advances Journal states that multiple people died due to this ritual. The ritual was well-known and feared across most European countries for about 2,000 years.
The skeletons at the Saint-Paul-Trois-Châteaux tomb were oriented toward the solstices. As per the study, the sacrifices were for agricultural purposes. “The specific arrangement [of the bodies]— stacked atop each other and entwined with fragments of grindstones — implies a more forceful and deliberate placement, strongly suggesting that their demise likely occurred within the burial context,” the team wrote.
Mesolithic rock carvings in the Addaura Cave, Italy, capture this form of human sacrifice. In another study of 20 skeletons excavated at 14 sites across the Czech Republic, Spain, and Germany, similar evidence was found. The sites are from 5400 BCE to 3534 BCE. Among the victims, four were children. These skeletons were found at the site in Spain, Bobila Madurell Sud.
According to the team of archaeologists, “This cultural phenomenon could have diversified in Central Europe and structured itself at different rates for almost two millennia before culminating in the late Middle Neolithic.”
This type of brutal human sacrifice seems to be the depiction from only the Stone Age, yet, this cultural practice continued for many years. The Italian mafia uses this “incaprettamento” murder method to punish their enemies. In a piece of horrific news from 2019, a water utility company in England found nearly 3000-year old 24 skeletons that showed signs of human sacrifice.
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