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The broken , battered clappers of child , teenagers and fair sex discovered at the freshly excavated " German Stonehenge " may be evidence of ancient human sacrifice , a novel study line up .
archeologist found the fractured skulls and rib bones buried in pits alongside axis , imbibition vessels , butchered animal castanets and quern ( stone mills ) at an archeology website near Pömmelte , a settlement in Germany about 85 mi ( 136 kilometers ) southwest of Berlin .
A reconstruction of the 4,300-year-old Pömmelte enclosure.
The victims ' last moments were grisly ; it appears they were throw or pushed into the Inferno , and that at least one of the teenagers had their hand reverberate together , said bailiwick lead story researcher André Spatzier , an archaeologist at the State Office for the Preservation of Historic Monuments at Baden - Württemberg , a state in southwest Germany . [ Photos : Stone Age Skulls see on Wooden wager ]
Then again , it ’s possible that the dead were dupe of an blast or raid , Spatzier said . But afford that no grownup men were found swallow there and that ritualistic , broken artifacts were buried with the bodies , human sacrifice seems more likely , Spatzier say .
German Stonehenge
Just likeEngland ’s Stonehenge , the web site near Pömmelte is a henge — a round prehistoric memorial fabricate with wood or stone body structure . The henge has several concentrical circle , the large of which is about 380 feet ( 115 meters ) across . It was chance upon in 1991 , just two years after the Belin Wall fell , when hoi polloi in an plane vanish overhead spot it . However , in - deepness excavations were n’t done until more late , Spatzier state .
Ancient people build and used the henge - similar memorial during the transition from the later Neolithic to the early Bronze Age , from about 2300 B.C. until 2050 B.C. , when it was destroyed — in all probability ritualistically .
Archaeologists suspect aritualistic endbecause they find that the wooden postholes at the memorial were fill with artifacts . One of the ditches was filled with ash , probable from the burn up wooden posts , which date stamp to the same period as the artifact do , Spatzier said .
This photo shows a reconstruction of the site at Pömmelte, which ancient people built with wooden posts.
" It looks like at the last of the primary business , around 2050 B.C. , they extracted the posts , put offerings into the postholes and probably burned all the wood and back - shovel it into the ditch , " Spatzier told Live Science . " So , they close all the features . It was still visible above ground , but only as ashovel depression . "
Burials and solstice
Before the monument ’s destruction , and even afterward , ancient people buried 13 of their dead there . On the easterly side of the henge , away from the possible human sacrifices , archaeologists detect the burials of men , ages 17 to 30 . Unlike the other group , there was no evidence of injuries on the men ’s body , Spatzier said .
Curiously , the manpower had very simple burials ; they were n’t forget with any artefact . One manful trunk even date to 1900 B.C. , long after the henge had been destroy , Spatzier said . The bones of this trunk were n’t in a unconstipated anatomic position , suggesting that this was a second burial for the individual , Spatzier contribute . [ In Photos : Carved Human Skulls detect at Ritual Site ]
It seem that these men were inside individuals , as they were immerse with their bodies facing east on the easterly side of the enclosing , possibly reflecting " the tie-up of death and dayspring , symbolise belief in rebirth or an afterlife , " Spatzier and study cobalt - investigator François Bertemes , an archaeologist at Martin Luther University of Halle - Wittenberg in Germany , wrote in their subject write online today ( June 28 ) in thejournal Antiquity .
The Pömmelte enclosure likely had different zones, which were used for different activities.
Ancient the great unwashed also credibly used the repository as a place to perform rituals , Spatzier order . Like Stonehenge , the Pömmelte land site is arranged with deference to the equinoctial point and solstice . But while Stonehenge ’s rock monuments are placed in such a way that viewers can see the rising sunshine on thesummer solstice , the so - called German Stonehenge ’s four entrances were prim for the days halfway between the equinoxes and the solstices , an important clip for agricultural communities , Spatzier said .
Given its long history — the Pömmelte site was in use for nearly 300 years — it ’s not surprising it was used for so many activities , Spatzier enunciate .
Original clause onLive Science .
