Herxheim, in Southern Germany, 7,000 years ago hunders of people were butchered and eaten before parts of their bodies were thrown into oval pits. Cannibalism occured during ceremonies which people from near and far brought slaves, war prisoners or other dependents for ritual sacrifice. Skeletal markings indicate that human bodies were butchered and bitten in the same way animals were. Two archaeologists studied human bones reject the cannibalism hypothesis, but with further work they they found facts proving that cannibalism did occur. Herxheim was excavated from 1996 to 1999, there they found the pits to hold the dead. By finding the bones they saw that people in this village separated the people ribs, head were skinned and muscles were removed from the brain skullcap.
This article was an example of both hypothesis based science and discovery science. Hypothesis based because before they found the whole village and bones, they made assumptions that this people were butchered and eaten by other humans. However, when they dug up the village, the archaeologists found the proof in the bones. The bones were marked with bite marks and other types of marks, indicating that cannibalism was made. The importance of this research is to proove that cannibalism did exist, it was not just only a myth people said it occured but didn't.
Author: Bruce Bower
Journal: Science News
Date: January 2, 2010
Page: 10
1 comment:
It has to be either Discovery Science or Hypothesis-based.
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