A UCT academic has taken part in an international study which discovered a 9 000-year-old case of human decapitation in Brazil.
UCT’s Dr Domingo Carlos Salazar Garcia is one of the authors of the study, led by Andre Strauss from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Germany, published in PLOS ONE earlier this week.
Researchers discovered the remains of a buried body, Burial 26, which contained a cranium, jaw, the first six cervical vertebrae, and two severed hands at the Lapa do Santo rock shelter in 2007. The amputated hands were laid over the face of the skull and the researchers observed V-shaped cut marks on the jaw and sixth cervical vertebra.
The authors believe that the presentation of the remains suggests ritualised decapitation instead of trophy-taking. If this is the case, the remains may demonstrate sophisticated mortuary rituals among hunter-gatherers in the Americas during that period.
The study challenges the traditional view that decapitation was an Andean phenomenon, since all other archaeological cases were found in the Andes.
It also challenges the Western perspective, which understands decapitation within the context of punishment and inter-group violence.
“The strontium analysis comparing Burial 26’s isotopic signature to other specimens from Lapa do Santo suggests Burial 26 was likely a local member of the group and not a foreign defeated enemy,” Garcia said.
Using accelerator mass spectrometry, the researchers dated the remains back to about 9 000 years ago, making it the oldest case of decapitation in South America
The study is expected to lead to the re-evaluation of previous interpretations of the practice.
“This ritualised case of decapitation from Lapa do Santo attests to the early sophistication of mortuary rituals among hunter-gatherers in the Americas. The absence of a punitive element provides a venue for the exercise of a radical notion of alterity. In the apparent absence of wealth goods or elaborate architecture, Lagoa Santa’s inhabitants seemed to be using the human body to reify and express their cosmological principles,” Strauss said. – Staff Writer