With archaeology, we are able to take a peek
into the past.
Ancient texts, though revealing, often times
are subjective, written by conquerors and
victors, skewing the facts to make themselves
appear in a more positive light.
But ancient relics, buried deep in the ground
by time or people, tell a more complete story
of what happened hundreds, if not thousands
of years ago.
With the help of archaeology, scientists and
historians can slowly piece together the story
of humanity and the planet itself.
And as these things often are, long forgotten
secrets can sometimes be scary, if not downright
gruesome.
Here are 10 such grim archaeological discoveries.
10.
The First Recorded Boomerang Victim – Australia
Even though we tend to think of boomerangs
as toys to be thrown around, they are in fact
deadly weapons with which the Aboriginals
have been hunting and killing for thousands
of years.
In 2014, in Australia’s Toorale National
Park, on the banks of the Darling River, a
skeleton belonging to an Aboriginal was discovered
by a local man.
Knowing it to belong to one of his ancestors,
William Bates, an Aboriginal himself, named
him
Kaakutja – “older brother” in the Baakantji
language.
Taking a closer look, Mr. Bates noticed a
gash over Kaakutja’s right eye, extending
all the way to his jaw.
It first appeared as if the skull was struck
by an iron blade, with the skeleton belonging
to one of the many victims of frontier violence
from the time of British colonization of Australia.
However, on closer inspection by Michael Westaway,
a paleoanthropologist at Griffith University
in Queensland, Australia, it was discovered
that this was not the case.
In fact, Kaakutja lived some 500 years before
the British ever set foot on the continent,
and that the man was in his 20s or 30s when
he died.
Moreover, several other signs of trauma were
discovered all over the skeleton, marks which
were made by a wooden object, rather than
a metal sword.
Scientists were puzzled at first since no
one had ever seen trauma such as this in Australia’s
entire archaeological history.
While several of the other wounds came from
a Lil-lil, a wooden club made to look and
perform like an ordinary axe, the gash on
his face was clearly from a battle boomerang.
When found, Kaakutja was lying on his right
side in a tightly curled up position and with
his mouth wide open.
These all indicate a gruesome and violent
death sometime between 1260 and 1280 AD.
9.
The First Victims of War – Kenya
War was always believed to have appeared onto
the world stage alongside agriculture and
animal husbandry, when mankind renounced its
hunter-gatherer lifestyle and opted for a
more sedentary way of life.
This is also the time when wealth and belongings
beyond one’s immediate needs came into existence,
and also when it became profitable for a person
to own another.
These, of course, don’t rule out the occasional
individual murders among various families.
They refer to actual wars between groups of
hunter-gatherers without a strict social hierarchy
system, which were believed to be virtually
nonexistent.
This notion, however, may have been turned
on its head when a group of 27 skeletons were
found on the edge of Lake Turkana, Kenya,
in 2012.
Dating back to between 9,500 and 10,500 years
ago, these 27 bodies of men, women, and children,
all showed signs of blunt force trauma and
projectile wounds.
One of the women had both her knees broken,
was lying on her side, and with her wrists
in front as if they were once bound together.
This large number of skeletons found together
rule out the notion of any small-scale feud
between prehistoric families, suggesting that
these people belonged to a sizable hunter-gatherer
group, some of which may have escaped death
in this particular conflict.
These gruesome findings have lead archaeologists
to believe that these people were members
of a somewhat large, semi-nomadic tribe of
hunter-gatherers who settled the banks of
Lake Turkana.
This was not so uncommon since lakes acted
as both a stable water source, as well as
ensuring a constant influx of wild game suitable
for hunting.
“Violence is a pretty ubiquitous part of
the human behavioral repertoire,” said Robert
Foley, anthropologist and archaeologist at
the University of Cambridge.
“Having said that, so too is altruism, cooperation,
and caring.”
8.
The Pit of Death – France
Close to the border with Germany, in a French
village known as Bergheim, a circular pit
dating to around 6,000 years ago was discovered
back in 2012.
It contained the remains of eight people,
and seven severed left arms, among other hand
fragments.
Circular pits like this one were common all
throughout Central and Western Europe during
Neolithic times, but none contained such grisly
examples of human savagery.
These cylindrical pits may have been used
as storage silos or as graves for high-ranking
individuals, though scholars aren’t entirely
sure and still debate the issue.
It is also a possibility that slaves or relatives
were killed in order to accompany the buried
noble into the afterlife.
But this seems to not have been the case here.
This particular 6.5 foot deep pit became the
final resting place for two men, one woman
and four children, which may have been the
victims of a raid, or some sort of violent
encounter.
Their bodies were already piled over several
left arms, hand fragments and severed fingers,
which appeared to have been hacked off with
axes.
Their origin or purpose is unknown, but some
speculate that these were some sort of trophies.
One of the severed limbs belonged to a child
no older than 16, while one of the bodies
was of an infant.
The deepest skeleton belonged to a middle-aged
man who also had his left arm cut off, as
well as several other wounds which most likely
proved fatal.
One later addition to the pile, a woman, was
added some almost 700 years later, but she
showed no signs of a violent death or trauma.
7.
Mass Graves from the Great Rebellion – England
Wanting to build a café next to its library
back in 2013, Durham University began construction
with some preliminary excavations.
But soon after work began, it came to an abrupt
halt when they came across something believed
to be forever lost.
Two mass graves were uncovered, holding the
bodies of over 1,700 Scottish soldiers who
had been taken as prisoners of war after the
Battle of Dunbar in 1650 by Oliver Cromwell
in his Civil Wars for the British Crown.
The battle, which took less than an hour,
was fought between Cromwell’s parliamentarian
army and the untrained Scottish Covenanters,
who supported Charles II’s claims to the
Scottish throne.
Over an area of less than 11 square feet,
up to 28 bodies were uncovered, belonging
to boys of ages between 13 and 25.
The lack of any healed signs of trauma on
the skeletons indicate that these soldiers
didn’t have much experience in waging war,
and most of them probably died of starvation,
dysentery or exhaustion.
In the aftermath of the battle only about
100 Englishmen perished while some 3,000 Scotsmen
were killed and another 6,000 were taken prisoner.
Those who were too sick or wounded, some 1,000
soldiers in total, were set free, while the
others were taken on a 100-mile-long march
from Dunbar to Durham.
Another 1,000 boys died along the way.
Others escaped, while some were executed for
trying to do so.
The remaining 3,000 were imprisoned in the
then-disused Durham cathedral and castle.
During their time in captivity, some 1,700
died and were then tipped into these two pits,
which were located at the far end of the castle’s
grounds.
Other mass graves may also exist, but they’re
most likely
under the University.
DNA analysis has revealed that most of the
soldiers were from Scotland, while a few were
Dutchmen, also part of the Scottish army at
the time.
6.
Incan Child Sacrifice to the Gods – Argentina
Back in 1985, a group of mountaineers, while
on a hike high up in the Andes near Cerro
Aconcagua, at an altitude of about 17,400
feet, came across a partially unearthed mummy.
As it turns out, the remains belonged to a
6 or 7-year old Incan boy who lived some 500
years ago.
Moreover, later research revealed that the
boy was sacrificed as part of a ritual known
as capacocha.
The ritual involved children of great physical
beauty who would act as messengers to the
gods in times of important events.
Events like a volcanic eruption, the death
of an Emperor, an epidemic, a great military
victory, or defeat.
These children were gathered from all across
the Incan Empire, drugged and then left to
die of exposure to the elements, high in the
mountains.
Whether these children were taken by force,
or offered willingly by their parents, is
unknown and still debated today.
Whatever the case may be, the Aconcagua boy,
as he came to be known, proved to be even
more important to scientists than previously
believed.
His DNA analysis placed him as a direct descendant
of the people who crossed into the Americas
over the Bering Land Bridge more than 18,000
years ago.
This initial group of peoples was called C1b.
However, the boy didn’t belong to any previously
identified, genetically distinct subgroups
of peoples from C1b, and was dubbed as C1bi.
His subgroup most likely emerged in the Andes
some 14,000 years ago, proving that people
moved south relatively fast over North America,
once they crossed into the New World.
To date, only four other individuals have
been identified as belonging to this group.
Three are currently living in Peru and Bolivia,
while another lived during the ancient Wari
Empire, which flourished from 600 to 1000
AD.
5.
The Shackled Skeletons – Greece
Back in the 7th century BC, the ancient city
state of Athens was shaken to its very core
after an aristocrat and Olympic Games victor,
Cylon, attempted to occupy the Acropolis and
establish a dictatorial government.
Fortunately, his coup d’état failed, forcing
some of Cylon’s followers to take refuge
in the Temple of Athena; a place considered
sacred and a safe haven for all those inside.
In order to break the stalemate, Megacles,
archon of Athens, promised them safe passage
under truce.
The insurgents then came out, but holding
on to a rope tied to the altar.
Once outside, the rope was cut and Megacles
quickly shouted that the goddess had forsaken
the rebels and ordered his men to attack.
In the aftermath of his treachery, Megacles
was convicted for wrongfully killing Cylon’s
supporters and was then exiled from the city,
along the entire Alcmaeonid family of which
he was part.
Now archeologists think they might have discovered
some of the bodies of these slaughtered rebels,
four miles away from Athens, in the port city
of Phalaeron.
The 80 skeletons, 36 of which had their hands
bound in iron shackles, were discovered by
accident while working on the new National
Library of Greece and the Greek National Opera.
Some vases found among the bodies have pinpointed
the massacre between 650 to 625 BC, in accordance
with Cylon’s Coup of 635 BC.
However, Athens was experiencing a tumultuous
period at the time with several riots, crop
failures and struggles for power.
These make it difficult to certainly identify
these men as Cylon’s rebels.
Nevertheless, their position at the moment
of death indicates that they were buried with
respect.
Even though their deaths were violent, and
many had their hands shackled above their
heads, they weren’t thrown inside without
consideration, as one might expect to find
slaves or common criminals from that period.
4.
A Man Rose from the Grave – Ireland
A fierce storm hit northwest Ireland, close
to the Atlantic coast in May, 2015.
The storm uprooted a two-century-old beech
tree, which held a gruesome secret tangled
in its roots.
A thousand year-old skeleton was literally
raised from the grave when the tree collapsed
on one side, exposing its bones for the world
to see.
As it turns out, the skeleton belonged to
a 17 to 20 year-old Gaelic man who lived in
Ireland sometime between 1030 and 1200 AD.
More disturbing is the fact that the body
presented signs of trauma on his ribs and
hands, which may have been inflicted by a
knife or blade of some sort.
Though ripped in half when the tree fell,
the initial east-west position of the body
would indicate that the man received a proper
Christian burial.
At 5.8 feet, the boy probably belonged to
a relatively wealthy family, able to afford
a more nutritious diet for his above average
height at the time.
Now, there is no way of knowing if he died
in battle or during a personal dispute, but
archaeologists are fairly certain that he
was of true Irish descent since thy believe
the burial took place before the Anglo-Norman
invasion of Ireland in 1169.
3.
A Debt Collection Gone Terribly Wrong – Romania
Throughout much of their medieval history,
the three Eastern European principalities
of Wallachia, Moldavia, and Transylvania of
present-day Romania were either under complete
control, or vassals to their neighboring empires
such as the Ottoman Turks or Austrians.
And always, rulership of these principalities
under foreign government influence came at
a price.
In 1593, Prince Michael bought his place on
the throne of Wallachia from the Turks.
Two years later he would start a rebellion
against the Ottomans, the outcome of which
would ensure him the title as one of Romania’s
most famous historical heroes and the byname
of Michael the Brave.
But while he was waging a military campaign
across the banks of the Danube River to the
south, conquering fortresses and consolidating
his borders, three Turkish janissaries, either
military commanders or elite Ottoman infantry,
were being brutally murdered in the Wallachian
capital city of Bucharest.
These three are believed to have been the
men who provided Prince Michael with the necessary
money to secure his place as ruler of Wallachia,
and now were looking to collect on that debt.
What happened to them next was in a story
of savagery worthy of Vlad the Impaler’s
countrymen.
While under renovations in 2010 and 2011,
Bucharest’s University Square finally unveiled
its gruesome secret.
The area also contained a cemetery with 688
bodies dating back to between the 16th and
19th centuries, but the three mangled skeletons
were found some distance away, thrown in a
pit and covered with all sorts of animal remains,
bricks and pottery shards.
This debris, however, helped archaeologists
date the unmarked grave to around the end
of the 16th century, the same time when the
previously mentioned events were taking place.
But the most gruesome part about this discovery
was the multiple physical signs of trauma
these men endured just before their deaths.
One man suffered a fractured collarbone, ribs,
wrist, kneecap, hips, spine, and skull.
Another suffered a total 18 wounds, while
the third also had a musket ball in his neck,
an arrowhead in one of his ribs, along with
a viciously cracked skull.
Many of their wounds were around the face
area, and most blows came from the front,
with both swords and projectile weapons.
Two of the men were even partially beheaded.
Archaeologists can’t, of course, be absolutely
sure if these skeletons belonged to those
three moneylenders or not.
But they are, however, certain that the men
were Turkish.
Otherwise, the locals would have given them
a Christian burial.
2.
Exploratory Voyage Turned Desperate Fight
for Survival – Canada
As part of the ongoing European expeditions
to find a western shortcut to Asia, John Franklin,
an English Royal Navy officer and explorer,
embarked on his fourth and final exploratory
voyage of the Arctic, trying to find a way
around the Canadian Archipelago and onto the
Pacific Ocean.
On the morning of May 19, 1845, two ships,
the HMS Erebus and HMS Terror, with a total
crew of 24 officers and 110 men, set sail
from Greenhithe, England, never to be seen
again.
The first two years of the expedition went
on without a hitch and made it all the way
to King William Island in northern Canada.
But as the 1846 winter began to set it, the
water froze and the ships got entrenched in
the ice.
As an experienced Arctic explorer, Franklin
was aware of this possibility and provisioned
his ships accordingly.
But the following summer came and went, and
the ice didn’t melt, keeping the ships stranded.
Franklin and two dozen other men died during
this period, forcing the remaining explorers
to abandon their ships and attempt a 1,000-mile-long
trek through the frozen Canadian wilderness
to the nearest Hudson Bay trading post.
But as the men would soon realize, their journey
would have a bitter ending, none of them making
it even a fifth of the way there.
Between 1847 and 1859, Lady Franklin, with
the aid of the British Admiralty, personally
funded over 30 expeditions in search of her
husband and his crew, but to no avail.
Search missions continued well into the 19th
and early 20th centuries, gradually finding
evidence that would piece together the gruesome
events that happened.
Over the years, scientists found more and
more skeletal remains belonging to the crew,
with clear signs of cut marks on many of the
bones.
These are indicative of acts of cannibalism,
showing a glimpse at the extremely dire situation
those men were in.
Some bones had signs of breakage, revealing
that even the marrow was extracted, in an
attempt to get the last bits of calories and
nutrition possible.
Both wrecked ships have been discovered in
recent years, once and for all solving the
mystery of the Arctic’s most tragic expedition.
1.
Demons and Sickles – Poland
Our mythology has no shortage of monsters,
demons, or evil spirits lurking in the shadows
and out to get those still living.
Medieval Europe is no exception, and this
can clearly be seen in a 17th century cemetery
in northwestern Poland.
Since 2008, archaeologists have been digging
up the 400-year-old cemetery near the village
of Drawsko, exposing more than 250 skeletons.
And to their surprise, five of them were buried
with iron sickles across their necks or hips.
Two women in their 30s, a man in his early
40s, and a teenage girl were all sporting
an iron sickle tightly across their necks.
Another, older woman, probably in her 50s
or 60s, had a sickle across her pelvis.
These discoveries initially led some to believe
it to be a case of “vampires rising from
the grave” and the sickles were there to
prevent that from happening.
However, other scientists have concluded that
this was not precisely the case, though “demons”
were still involved.
Poland in the 1600s was going through a tumultuous
period, riddled with wars, famine, pestilence
and poverty.
Death was commonplace throughout the country,
and even though devoutly Christian, the population
often times turned to pagan beliefs, witchcraft
and superstitions in an attempt to make sense
of the horrific events taking place all around
them.
Those who died swiftly of a disease, without
receiving the proper rituals for entering
the afterlife, or those who suffered a violent
death, were viewed at “great risk of demonization.”
But unlike true “vampire” burials, these
people received a proper Christian funeral,
were not mutilated, and were mingled with
the other deceased members of the community,
with their heads pointing westward.
Radiocarbon dating has also shown them to
be of local origin, since dead foreigners
were often seen as potential vampires.
These sickles, then, acted as possible wards
against evil spirits for both the living and
the dead.
