Thread by @MikeStuchbery_

Ready for a mystery? Something strange and bloody, that confuses archaeologists? Last night, as I researched something else entirely, a slip of the fingers brought to my attention a site in France that raises some disturbing questions about our ancestors. I call it… THREAD 1/

Our tale takes us to the area covered by the border b/w Germany & France. This was home to what has come to be known as the Michaelsberg Culture, who lived around 6,000 to 5,500 years ago. They’re one of the many neolithic (new stone age) cultures following the last Ice Age. /2

There have been a few Michaelsberg Culture sites found, most famously at Bruchsal-Aue, in the German state of Baden-Wuerttemberg. They constitute ramparts, some very simple dwelling & a series of ditches. Materially, they left behind lots of beakers that resemble a flower. /3

From what we can tell, they grew crops close to their homes - simple, wooden structures - and grazed livestock, such as aurochs, in the forests around them. They were also hunters, eating rabbit, foxes and anything else they could catch. /4

You’re not here to hear about cows and wild game, however. You’re here for the weird, gory shit - that I can supply! See, a few years back, one of the distinct types of grave known to the Michaelsberg culture, essentially a disused silo, was found in Bergheim, in the Alsace. /5

During a survey dig prior to building a new housing development, pit 157 was one of large number of silos found over two hectares. A couple of the silos had human or animal bones in them. Pit 157 was *full* of them. /6

It might be understandable were there merely a few skeletons. We have ways of explaining that. Nothing so simple here. At the bottom of Pit 157 were several sets of arms, cut off at the wrist & shoulder. Around them, scattered cut-up hands. All dated back some 5,300 years. /7

To add to the disturbing nature of the find, one of the pairs of arms seemed to belong to a male of between 12 and 16 years - still fairly young for the time. Many of the bones had cut marks and striations that suggested that they’d been defleshed - the meat cut from them. /8

Not long after the arms were deposited, eight others were thrown into the pit. This lot - 2 adult males, 1 adult female, 4 children and a baby - had been viciously mutilated. The adult male had his arm cut off, & skull wounds from some sort of knife that were presumably fatal. /9

Some time later, an adult female was deposited on top of the other remains. Her bones don’t show any other visible signs of violence, although again, she seems to have been chucked in, without much regard. /10

To further add to the mystery, the Michaelsberg Culture didn’t mostly bury their dead. It’s theorised that most were either excarnated (exposed for carrion animals to consume) or *maybe* cremated - the remains of adult men & women are generally never found. /11

The *only* other Michaelsberg Culture grave that seems to resemble Pit 157 is another silo with bones of 2 adult males & 6 children, deposited at the same time, at Bruchsal-Aue site in Germany. The only other burials, *in general*, appear to be the very old, or very young. /12

So WTF happened in Pit 157? Archaeologists have a number of competing theories, although none have really one out. One theory is that Pit 157 represents a place where the partial remains or complete bodies of ‘criminals’ were deposited, a place of shame and desecration. /13

Others have speculated that this is where those captured in war were flung, or ‘trophies’ from raids deposited - a way of capturing or storing their power, denying their power being returned to their clan groups. /14

Another theory suggests that many of the children & women, both at Pit 157 and Bruchsal-Aue, represent ‘accompanying dead’ - sacrifices made at the death of an important figure. This is not uncommon, and it would establish a link with later cultures. /15

It’s important to realise changes in belief probably took place over time. What was originally a place of shame may have eventually became a place of respect and reverence, hence the latest burial… or maybe not. We don’t know. I mean, the culture lasted over 800 years… /16

To put it bluntly, we have NFI what happened in Pit 157. It represents a world so completely removed from ours that we can barely imagine it, maybe a millennia or more before the first pyramids. It really brings home just how thin our veneer of civilization really is. /17

I wonder how long it would take for us to get back to that stage if the lights went out? How long would it be before we, here, would start thinking of the dead in such a way. Decades? A century? Some would argue we’re still there, in some respects. /18

If you’d like to know more, there’s a good summary of the findings at @livescience. /19 livescience.com/53341-pit-of-a…

You can read the full study regarding Pit 157 here. /20 cambridge.org/core/journals/…

If you enjoyed that - and I know you did, you sick, curious people - there’s more coming! As always, let me know if there’s something I should cover, or if you’d like to work with me on something relating to these stories. Don’t get any ideas, though… /FIN