Kiel, Germany – Headless skeletons have been found in a ditch at Vrábal, a Neolithic site located in southwestern Slovakia, between 5250 and 4940 AD. BCaccording to a biology Report. Traces of more than 300 houses grouped in three neighborhoods have been found in Vrable. A trench containing skeletons surrounded one of these neighborhoods, including a mass burial of four pairs of people and at least 77 individuals. Only the head of the skeleton of one child remained intact in the group. Katharina Fuchs of Kiel University said cut marks from sharp tools found on the bones suggested the bodies had been decapitated, but believed the decapitation was a postmortem ritual, not an act of violence. No lower jaw was recovered, suggesting that the head was preserved intact. However, neck vertebrae were found along the wall of the ditch, and they may have been placed there after the heads of the dead had been removed. Since no heads were found, it is unclear what type of postmortem rituals might have been practiced, but Fuchs and his colleagues believe that burying the bodies in ditches surrounding the neighborhood may have been a way for residents and their ancestors to lay claim to the land. Read the original scholarly article about this research Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society. To read about earlier burials found at this site, visit “Neolithic mass grave mystery“
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