Ancient Britons were not averse to using human skulls as drinking cups, skeletal remains unearthed in southwest England suggest.
The braincases from three individuals were fashioned in such a meticulous way that their use as bowls to hold liquid seems the only reasonable explanation.
The 14,700-year-old objects were discovered in Gough's Cave, Somerset.
Scientists from London's Natural History Museum say the skull-cups were probably used in some kind of ritual.
"If you look around the world there are examples of skull-cups in more recent times - in Tibetan culture, in Fiji in Oceania, and in India," said Dr Silvia Bello, a palaeontologist and lead author of a scientific paper on the subject in the journal PLoS One.
"So, skulls have been used as drinking bowls, and because of the similarity of the Gough's Cave skulls to these other examples, we imagine that that's what these ancient people were using them for also," she told BBC News.
Gough's Cave is situated in the Cheddar Gorge, a deep limestone canyon on the southern edge of the Mendip Hills. ...
via BBC News - Ancient Britons 'drank from skulls'.
Thursday, February 17, 2011
Ancient Britons 'drank from skulls'
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Sensei: "What is best in life, Dude?"
Myself: What is best in life is to defeat my enemies, to drive them before me, to hear the lamentations of their women, and to drink caffee lattes or midori and soda from their empty skulls! THAT is what is BEST in life!
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