Skulls on stakes in Sweden date to the Mesolithic

Archaeological excavations in 2009–2011 at Kanaljorden in the town of Motala, Östergötland in central Sweden unearthed a unique Mesolithic site with ceremonial depositions of human crania in a former lake.
The human skulls have been part of a complex ceremony that involved their display on stakes and deposition in water.

The skulls have now been C14 dated to 6212-5717 cal BC and two dates on worked wood have also been obtained (5972-5675 cal BC), making them 7-8000 year old.

The rituals were conducted on a massive (14 x 14 m) stone-built construction on the bottom of a shallow lake

The rituals were conducted on a massive (14 x 14 m) stone-built construction on the bottom of a shallow lake (nowadays a peat fen). Some human crania were found as more or less intact “skulls” while others were found as isolated fragments, for example a frontal lobe or a temporal bone. Based on the more intact skulls eleven individuals have been identified, both men and women, ranging in age between infants and middle age. Two of the skulls had wooden stakes inserted into the cranium. In both cases the stakes were inserted from the base to the top of the skull. As well as this a temporal bone of a women was found placed inside the skull of another woman... Past Horizons


Actualización (19-04-12). Descubren los restos de un ritual mesolítico con cabezas empaladas en una turbera sueca
Arqueólogos suecos han descubierto los restos de un ceremonial realizado hace 8.000 años en el que se empalaron cabezas humanas y se depositaron cráneos en una estructura de piedra construida dentro de un pequeño lago como parte de un ritual de difícil interpretación...


Releted news: 19-09-11. Dig reveals human skulls mounted on stakes.