In 2011 , Swedish archaeologists found human skulls that had been mount on wager at an 8,000 - class - old burial web site , representing a behavior rarely seen among prehistoric hunter - gatherer . An unbelievable , figurer - aided facial reconstruction at last puts a face to one of these skulls .
Swedish forensic artist Oscar Nilsson created this stunning Reconstruction Period using a replica of the 8,000 - twelvemonth - old skull , which belong to a Mesolithic man who die in his 50s . Using cue derived from both archaeology and genetics , Nilsson seek to create an accurate portrait of this prehistoric hunter - gatherer , whose head was rise on a wooden stake after his end .
investigator from Stockholm University and the Cultural Heritage Foundation found the original skull , along with several others , in 2011 at the Kanaljorden land site near the Motala Ström river . The clay of 10 people — nine adults and one baby — were found stacked atop a thick layer of gravid Oliver Stone . All adult skull exhibited signs of straight-from-the-shoulder force injury prior to last , which may explain how they die . Some skull , including the reconstructed skull , had grounds of past injuries that healed . No mandibular bone were found at the site .
Left: Facial reconstruction of a Mesolithic man from Sweden. Right: His skull, from which the reconstruction was based.Image: (Oscar Nilsson/S. Gummesson et al., 2018)
queerly , three adult male skulls expose signs of sharp forcefulness trauma after death , in manner consistent with the skulls having beenmounted to stakes . And indeed , one of the specimens still had a wooden stake cleave out of the brainpan . This was an funny post - death ritual for hunter - accumulator and not something reckon commonly until the Middle Ages .
Two years ago , Nilsson was contacted by the archeologist to do the facial reconstruction . As Nilsson explain to Gizmodo , his first step was to scan the skull and generate a 3D replication .
“ I never work on the original , ” he told Gizmodo . At the same time , however , he “ wanted this adult male to be a real eye - catcher and unequalled in his individuality . ”
Facial reconstruction of the Kanaljorden skull.Image: (Oscar Nilsson)
In addition to the skull , Nilsson used evidence gleaned from the man ’s desoxyribonucleic acid , including his haplogroup ( which can signal ancestry ) , as well as his hair , middle , and skin colour . The skull ’s jaw was missing , requiring Nilsson to cipher its likely dimension based on the skull , which he describe as “ challenging body of work . ”
Nilsson bank on archaeological evidence in the physical body of jaw belonging to wild wild boar , elk , bear , Wisconsinite , and other animal remains observe at the Kanaljorden site .
“ My musical theme here is that these beast were very important to these people , like totems or spiritual animals , ” Nilsson told Gizmodo . “ This guy cable is connected with wild boar , he wear the skin from a wild boar , and his hairstyle is inspired from these animal , ” he said , adding that this “ is of course purely speculative , but such a specific and dramatic finding calls for a matching rendering . ”
Facial reconstruction of the Kanaljorden skull.Image: (Oscar Nilsson)
Nilsson also added some white consistency paint to the man ’s bureau , a known praxis among stone age peoples .
As to why this man ’s head was attached to a wooden stake , that remains an open question . Here ’s what I wrote when I covered this breakthrough back in 2018 :
As for the handling of the bodies after death and the mounting of heads on wooden bet , that ’s by all odds weird . Mesolithic hunting watch - collector are not known to dispatch soundbox parts like this ; their heavy sites show a respect for bodily integrity after death . That say , radical that appeared much later in history did decapitate their enemies , sometimes using the skull of the vanquished as a trophy or admonition . Historical case admit European colonist mounting the skulls of remove indigenous peoples , or indigenous peoples using skull in both burial rituals and as prize display . It ’s not clear what the context was in this case . All we get laid is that , for whatever reason , these head were mounted on the stakes , left there for a relatively short flow of clock time , and then deliberately laid to breathe in the shallow lakebed on the stones .
The reconstruction in progress.Image: (Oscar Nilsson)
“ The fact that two crania were mounted advise that they have been on display , in the lake or elsewhere , ” say [ Stockholm University archeologist Anna ] Kjellström . In general , skulls without jaws were chosen for the presentation . “ Since we did not find any sharp trauma showing active attempts to secernate the lower jaw from the skulls , this indicates that the individuals much likely were buried in another place before the depositions … One interpretation could be that this is an alternative funeral act . ”
More research will be needed for the scientists to reach a more definitive last .
As for the new facial interpretation — which is precisely that , an interpretation — it ’s provide us with a uncommon glimpse into the past times , reminding us of the humanity of masses who lived so long ago . It may not be perfect or wholly precise , but this facial reconstruction succeeds because it better connect us to our past , even if that past was brutal at times .
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