8/17/2019 9,000 Year-old Ritualized Decapitation Found in Brazil

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9,000 year-old ritualized decapitation found inBrazilSeptember 23, 2015

A schematic representation of Burial 26 from Lapa do Santo. Credit: Drawing by Gil Tokyo.

A 9,000 year-old case of human decapitation has been found in the rock shelter of Lapa doSanto in Brazil, according to a study published September 23, 2015 in the open-access

 journal PLOS ONE  by André Strauss from the Max Planck Institute for EvolutionaryAnthropology, Germany and colleagues.

An archaeological site called Lapa do Santo, located in east-central Brazil, contains

evidence of human occupation dating back to ~12,000 years ago. In 2007, researchersfound fragments of a buried body, Burial 26, including a cranium, jaw, the first six cervicalvertebrae, and two severed hands at the site. They dated the remains back to ~9,000 yearsago using accelerator mass spectrometry. The researchers found amputated hands laidover the face of the skull arranged opposite each other and observed v-shaped cut marks onthe jaw and sixth cervical vertebra.

Based on strontium analysis comparing Burial 26's isotopic signature to other specimensfrom Lapa do Santo, the researchers suggest Burial 26 was likely a local member of thegroup. Additionally, the presentation of the remains, lead the authors to think that this was

likely a ritualized decapitation instead of trophy-taking. If this is the case, these remains maydemonstrate sophisticated mortuary rituals among hunter-gatherers in the Americas duringthis time period. The authors think this may be the oldest case of decapitation found in theNew Word, leading to a re-evaluation of the previous interpretations of this practice,particularly with regards to its origins and geographic dispersion.

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More information: Strauss A, Oliveira RE, Bernardo DV, Salazar-García DC, Talamo S, JaouenK, et al. (2015) The Oldest Case of Decapitation in the New World (Lapa do Santo, East-

Central Brazil). PLOS ONE  10(9): e0137456. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0137456

Provided by: Public Library of Science

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