(ORDO NEWS) — Scientists from Austria and Germany examined 12 hands found in the courtyard of the Hyksos royal palace in the ancient city of Avaris.
These remains, dating back to the middle of the 2nd millennium BC, belonged to people whose age ranged from 14 to 21 years.
Moreover, at least 11 out of 12 people appeared to be men. According to the researchers, the finds are parts of the right hands cut off from the defeated enemies.
In the eastern part of the Nile Delta there is a large archaeological site of Tell el-Dab.
Excavations have shown that the first settlement on this site arose back in the 20th century BC, when the founder of the XII dynasty, Amenemhat I, ruled Ancient Egypt.
Gradually, it grew into a large center called Avaris. After the decline and collapse of the Middle Kingdom at the end of the 18th century BC, a period of fragmentation began in Egypt, which was used by the Hyksos in the middle of the 17th century BC, subjugating the lands of the Delta and Middle Egypt and making Avaris their capital.
Around 1530 BC, the Theban king Ahmose I managed to capture Avaris and drive out the Hyksos. He rebuilt the citadel of the city, turning it into a royal palace residence, which was also inhabited under later rulers.
However, in the first half of the 13th century BC, Ramesses II built his own capital, Per-Ramesses, nearby, after which the significance of Avaris faded to naught.
In 2011, archaeologists working in the courtyard of a Hyksos-era palace discovered three pits containing severed hands.
Julia Greski from the German Archaeological Institute, together with colleagues from Austria and Germany, presented the results of an osteological study of these finds.
They noted that in the first hole there was one articulated hand, in the second – three, in the third – eight, and all of them were cut off from the right hands.
In addition to these 12 hands, individual fingers or their fragments were present in the second and third pits.
In 11 cases, the researchers were able to fix the position of the hands in the pits. It turned out that eight of them lay palm down, and three – on the back.
The fingers of six hands were strongly splayed, while four were not (in one case this could not be determined).
At the same time, it remains unclear whether these fingers were spread out intentionally or whether this is the result of a taphomic process.
At the same time, the scientists stressed that they did not find any patterns in the position of the hands in the pits.
The bones of the first row of the wrist have been preserved in six of the found hands, while there are no cuts on them. This testifies in favor of the fact that they were separated from the forearm very carefully.
According to the researchers, all the brushes belonged to young people, whose age ranged from 14 to 21 years.
Moreover, judging by the ratio of the lengths of the index and ring fingers, only one hand may have belonged to a woman, not a man.
Scientists are inclined to believe that the finds are brushes of defeated enemies carefully prepared for the ceremony. It seems that this custom, apparently rooted in the Middle East, came to Egypt with the Hyksos.
The Egyptians themselves adopted it no later than the reign of King Ahmose I, in whose temple complex there is a relief depicting a bunch of hands.
Moreover, the Egyptians used a Semitic borrowed word to designate a severed hand.
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