The world's oldest "Skulls Cup (Skulls Cup) found in the UK", evidence of food

Cup made of human skullSkull cup(Skull and skull Yes)Speaking of, Oda Nobunaga in JapanMasamitsu AsaiThere are many people who think of the skull of the skull and the ancient Chinese warlords who filled the enemy's skulls. However, the custom of the Skull Cup seems to have a much longer history.

I was excavated in the UKStone ageIt turned out that some of the human bones were processed for use as dishes, and it is clear that it is the oldest skull cup in the world.

Details are as below.PLoS ONE: Earliest Directly-Dated Human Skull-Cups

Speaking of the Skull Cup, Oda Nobunaga in JapanHisashi AsaiAnd his sonChoshinandAsakura YoshinoAnd the story of having drunk a cup of skull (actually theory that it is not going to be a cup just by decorating it with paint)Chinese booksNoted inFoolofAbove just oldButMr. MoonIf you crown the skull of the king and later came to peace with the Han, you might be famous for having drunk with that cheers with the messenger from Han.

Eastern EuropeanScythianOr ScandinavianVikingThe custom of making the skull cup from the enemy 's bones is seen in many parts of the world in history, as well as the skull cup used in rituals in Tibetan esoteric religionKapalaStarting in AustraliaAboriginalYaFijiIndigenous people of Oceania countries such as Hinduism of IndiaAgoriWe have confirmed the use of ceremonial skull cups in various places, from the 19th century to the present age.


Also, as people who have made a cup of honor as a hobby, in the Japanese a Chinese poet in the Edo periodTakano RanteiIt is said that he made a token of Jiro Ozeki in Kamakura and made a skull cup, a 19th century British poet who drank wine with a skull discovered by a gardener in his garden in his houseSir ByronAnd others are famous. Is it a fascinating skull with a poet?


It was revealed that there were people over 10,000 years ago when Byron was born, at that time still in the UK where Europe and the mainland continued, people who used human skulls as dishes were used. Somerset State, famous for cheddar cheeseCheddarCave inGough's CaveSo, to date a variety ofMadeleine cultureHumans and animal bones in the period (1 4000 BC - 7000 BC, late Paleolithic Age) are excavated,London Natural History MuseumWhenUniversity College LondonThe research by archaeologists has shown that the skulls of three of them were used as a skull cup.

Position of Gough's Cave. It was green in 10,500 years ago (BP14500) coastline. Even in ruins of Madeleine culture in two places, Le Placard and Isturitz in France, it seems that human skull with evidence of processing has been found.


The 41 samples of the human bones of the Madeleine cultural period which was the subject of the survey this time was a total of five people, one 3 year old child, two children of secondary sexual period, 1 adult and 1 older adult It is estimated to be one. The skull of three of them,Frontal bone·Parietal bone·Occipital boneIt is confirmed that the part that covers the brain that covers the brain is not cleaned but leaves cleanly, a sharp thing is hit and repeatedly hit and cracked evidence is confirmed, and when it is combined with other archeological circumstances evidence, almost a mistake It seems to be considered a cup used to drink water without it.Radioactive carbon dating, It turned out to be about 14,700 years ago.

Three "stalactite cups" in the stone age. The black dot shown in the gray figure on the left is the position where blow marks were found when crushing the skull. GC 87 (upper), the state with the best condition, is a bone of an adult (probably male), GC 3 (middle) is a bone of a child about 3 years old, GC 2 (lower) is an adult bone, and the picture of GC 3 and GC 2 The dotted line drawn along the contour shows the damaged part (recent damage not used as a cup) after being discarded.


A picture (A) of GC 87 and a figure (B) showing which part of the human skull is hit.


Viewing the edge of GC 87 from outside (C) and inside (D). The white triangle in Figure C shows the position of the batting trace, "Occ." In the figure indicates the back of the head, "Or.r" indicates the right hemisphere, and "Or.l" indicates the left hemisphere.


In the UK this prehistoric "Skull Skull" was discovered only in this one, as well as the oldest a world-class skull cup whose age was specified by a direct method It has become one.

Also, at Gough's Cave, it is thought that human bones and animal bones were excavated in a mixed state, and it was thought that they had discarded bones together without distinguishing between humans and animals, but the upper half of the skull remains almost perfect It is only the human bones that are human beings, which suggests that human corpses had a special meaning different to the corpses of other animals to the people of the time, and in the processing of the corpses "ceremonial" It seems to suggest that such things could have been done.

On the other hand, treatment of bones other than the part left as "Skull Cup" is carried out by almost the same method for both humans and animals, due to a knife (sharp stone tool) which is thought to have arrived when muscles and eyeballs are removed Scratches and nutrient rich crushed bonesBone marrowIt is strongly suggested that human corpses were treated as foods as well as animals by traces of taking out them.

Human being seen as crushed to take out bone marrow (A) ·Red deer(B) ·Notuma(C) ·Europe Ooyama cat(D)Mandible(Kaku Kuku).


It is not clear whether the human bones made into a drinking cup were the bones of "enemies" for those who used the meal to eat their meat or "bones" or "family" bones, Even though it is a custom of a meal and a skull cup that started with a practical meaning of "to eat for nutrition" "to use for drinking water because it is a good form", for example, if enemy bones "take enemy's power" , Is it possible to think that it became to have meaning such as "to honor dead friends" if it is a fellow's bone? From this place "ritual" was born and "religion" may have begun.