Real Life Alien skulls

'Alien' skulls excavated in Mexico deliberately warped, scientists say


Originally Posted by Charles Choi

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Although cranial deformation and dental mutilation were common features among the pre-Hispanic populations of Mesoamerica and western Mexico, scientists had not previously seen either in Sonora or the American Southwest.

Of the 25 burials, 17 were children between 5 months and 16 years of age.

The first evidence of deforming skulls was found in the northern Mexican state of Sonora when residents were digging an irrigation canal in 1999.

Human skulls deliberately warped into strange, alien-like shapes have been unearthed in a 1,000-year-old cemetery in Mexico, researchers say.

The practice of deforming skulls of children as they grew was common in Central America, and these findings suggest the tradition spread farther north than had been thought, scientists added.

The cemetery was discovered by residents of the small Mexican village of Onavas in 1999 as they were building an irrigation canal. It is the first pre-Hispanic cemetery found in the northern Mexican state of Sonora.

The site, referred to as El Cementerio, contained the remains of 25 human burials. Thirteen of them had deformed skulls, which were elongate and pointy at the back, and five had mutilated teeth.

'Cranial deformation has been used by different societies in the world as a ritual practice.'

- Cristina García Moreno, an archaeologist at Arizona State University

Dental mutilation involves filing or grinding teeth into odd shapes, while cranial deformation involves distorting the normal growth of a child's skull by applying force — for example, by using cloths to bind wooden boards against their heads.

"Cranial deformation has been used by different societies in the world as a ritual practice, or for distinction of status within a group or to distinguish between social groups," said researcher Cristina García Moreno, an archaeologist at Arizona State University. "The reason why these individuals at El Cementerio deformed their skulls is still unknown."

"The most common comment I've read from people that see the pictures of cranial deformation has been that they think that those people were 'aliens,'" García added. "I could say that some say that as a joke, but the interesting thing is that some do think so. Obviously we are talking about human beings, not of aliens."

Of the 25 burials, 17 were children between 5 months and 16 years of age. The high number of children seen at the site could suggest inept cranial deformation killed them due to excessive force against the skull. The children had no signs of disease that caused their deaths.

Although cranial deformation and dental mutilation were common features among the pre-Hispanic populations of Mesoamerica and western Mexico, scientists had not seen either practice in Sonora or the American Southwest, which share a common pre-Hispanic culture. The researchers suggest the people at El Cementerio had been influenced by recent migrants from the south.

"The most important implication would be to extend the northern boundary of the Mesoamerican influence," García told LiveScience.

A number of skeletons also were found with earrings, nose rings, bracelets, pendants and necklaces made from seashells and snails from the Gulf of California. One person was buried with a turtle shell on the chest. It remains uncertain why some of these people were buried with ornaments while others were not, or — another mystery — why only one of the 25 skeletons was female.

During the next field season, the researchers aim to determine the cemetery's total size and hope to find more burials to get a clearer idea of the society's burial customs. "With new information, we also hope to determine whether there was any interaction between these and Mesoamerican societies — how it was and when it happened," they said.

García and her colleagues completed their analysis of the skeletal remains in November. They plan to submit their research to either the journal American Antiquity or the journal Latin American Antiquity.
 
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Montana Smith

Active member
At first

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reminded me of

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but it really is closer to

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which is a shame for Moishe Postone and Elizabeth Traube, otherwise they could have written another essay linking KOTCS to TOD as a continuation of the theme of "the Shivalinga, which is a phallic shaped ritual object representing the god Shiva", the reassertion of white, male patriarchy, and the repression of the female, as in "Mutt, give me my damn hat back".

Oh, well, I guess you can't have everything. :p
 

Montana Smith

Active member
Indiana Jones: Nazca Indians used to bind their infants' head with rope to elongate the skull like that.
Mutt Williams: Why?
Indiana Jones: Honor the gods.
Mutt Williams: No, no. God's head is not like that, man.
Indiana Jones: Depends on who your god is.


Alien Skulls? Not even close!

Posted on December 19, 2008 by Carl Feagans

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...

The recent issue of Archaeology [1] has a sidebar that briefly describes the practice of modifying the shape of the human skull by the Maya. 90 percent of the skulls recovered at Maya sites show evidence of being artificially shaped.

Mothers began deforming their children?s skulls shortly after birth by applying devices such as splints, cradleboards, or tightly wound cloth. The practice of head hspaing was a regular part of pre-Hispanic life and was required for a child?s integration into society, which often took the form of hetz mek, or naming celebrations.

The practice of shaping the head was a body modification that existed from the Preclassic through the Classic periods in Maya history and was used to show membership in a particular ?family or community group? since, by the Classic period, the shapes began to take on a variety: slanted like the Maize God?s head; flattened foreheads; elongated up; formed into two distinctive globes.

...

Or were these body modifications a form of worship or a demonstration of piety to their gods? The Maize God is depicted in Maya art as having a slanted head and foliage for hair. The Maya ruler, K'inich Janaab' Pakal imitates this as depicted on his sarcophagus lid and several busts, reliefs, and murals of him. The photos below show the Maize God on the top and Pakal on the bottom.

Also, many examples of Maya art probably weren?t really ?art? at all but, rather, a way of revering their gods -depicting them in full regalia. Pakal was the personification of the Sun and Maize Gods on Earth, perhaps in much the same way Egyptian rulers were personfications of gods like Atum and Horus.

Women also based their appearance on the gods [2] and they made use of blue pigment, stylized hair, and large, obvious bits of jewelry.

If the Maya modified their appearance out of piety, they also did so out of vanity and were concerned with looking youthful, healthy and elegant. Pakal reached his 80s before dying, but every depiction of him, all the way to the end, shows him to be a young, vibrant man.


References and Notes:

1.Tiesler, Vera (2009). Beautiful Skulls. Archaeology, 62 (1), p. 39
2.Miller, Mary (2009). Extreme makeover: how painted bodies, flattened foreheads, and filed teeth made the Maya beautiful. Archaeology, 62 (1), p. 36-42

http://ahotcupofjoe.net/2008/12/alien-skulls/
 
Indy's brother said:
Yeah, neither could Rocket. I guess that's probably why he put this thread in the "Kingdom of The Crystal Skull" forum.
Actually I put it in the Archaeology Forum with the title:'Cranial Deformation"
 
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