(ORDO NEWS) — When archaeologists were excavating the ancient burial site of El Cementerio, located near the Mexican village of Onavas, they made a shocking discovery. They found 25 skulls, 13 of which were elongated and pointed at the back and did not look quite human.
The burial was first discovered by the inhabitants of the small village of Onavas in 1999, when work was underway to build an irrigation system. This is the first pre-Hispanic cemetery discovered in the northern Mexican state of Sonora and dates back to about 1,000 years ago.
Of the 25 people found, 17 were children between the ages of 5 months and 16 years, and only one was a woman. The children showed no signs of illness or injury suggesting a cause of death.
Experts have speculated that the deformity of the skulls was deliberately produced as a result of a ritual of head flattening, otherwise known as cranial deformity, in which the skull is squeezed between two wooden planks from childhood.
Although this practice was common among the pre-Hispanic populations of Mesoamerica and western Mexico, this is the first time that elongated skulls have been found in northern Mexico.
The earliest examples of skull deformity date back to the Neolithic period, approximately 10,000 years ago, and the practice has existed in many cultures around the world.
The reason for this practice, however, is less clear. Some tribes have reported that they believe people with elongated heads are more intelligent. Other reasons include enhancing beauty, increasing social status, or making them look ferocious in war.
Brian Foerster, author and expert on elongated skulls, has presented some of the most impressive research on the subject.
He found that while most skulls show clear signs of deliberate skull deformity, there is a certain percentage of skulls – those found in Paracus, Peru – that are anatomically different and cannot be explained by the practice of head flattening.
These skulls, he says, have a skull volume 25% larger than normal human skulls (skull deformation does not increase volume) and weigh 60% more. Brian Foerster describes further differences: “they contain two small openings at the back of the skull, perpendicular to the cranial suture that is present in the parietal plate of the skull.”
Every normal human skull is made up of three main bony plates: the frontal plate, which ends at the top of the forehead, and the two parietal plates, which lie behind it, crossing the frontal plate and forming a “T” shape.
Lloyd thinks these holes are natural; each human jaw has a small opening on each side, which serves to exit nerves and blood vessels and nourish tissues; these 2 holes at the back of the skull can serve the same function for an elongated skull. Another factor is the presence of only one parietal plate where there should be two.”
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