Africa's oldest human sacrifice found in Sudan

[Adsos Letter]

Source: TelegraphUK

In a graveyard in Al-Kadada, north of Khartoum, the archaeologists have dug up the tomb of a man and a woman facing each other in a ditch, with bodies of two women, two goats and a dog buried nearby.

The discovery of the group "confirms" excavations last year which found traces of the oldest human sacrifice ever identified in Africa, Jacques Reinold, a researcher for the French section of the Sudanese antiquities department, said.

The ancient unearthed bones date from between 3,700 and 3,400 BC, a period considered as one the key stages in the transition from a hunting to a farming society.

The Al-Kadada region, on fertile land alongside the Nile, is regarded as one of the cradles of humanity in the Neolithic era.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/sudan/4517916/Africas-oldest-human-sacrifice-found-in-Sudan.html

[petronius]

1. How do they know it's sacrifice?

Are they assuming the two women are the sacrifice?

:shrug:

[Adsos Letter]

2. I'll be posting a follow-up story in just a minute; perhaps it will explain...

because this article did not. Not much value without at least that much explanation...

[Adsos Letter]

3. Actually, it looks like I won't...the "more on" article contained even less info...

a moron article, perhaps... :D

[petronius]

6. Isn't that a pain? It'd be nice if truth in advertising applied to the word "more"

Oh well - I'm sure more will be forthcoming eventually...

[Seldona]

4. I think they assume the man, three women, two goats, and the dog,

didn't miraculously die at the same instant. More likely the man died, and the rest were 'sent' to accompany him to the afterlife. It was a pretty common practice back them, particularly in the region.

Who knows? It may have even been voluntary. For the women I mean. I doubt the dog or goats were lining up...

Edited to add, it could just as easily been a queen that died, with her husband and servants 'sent.' My logic for positing the opposite is that there were three women buried. Most likely his wives. I will admit it is all just meaningless conjecture on my part.

[petronius]

8. Maybe they all died together in a car crash

:silly:

Actually, I'm happy to assume that there is evidence at the site indicating sacrifice rather than communal burial, I'm just curious to know what it is. Otherwise, there's no way to determine if this was a multiple death (disease, conflict, tent fire, landslide, flood...), a series of burials in the same tomb, or a sacrifice...

[Kali]

5. ooo I know somebody who just started a field session in Sudan

But I think they are working on much later stuff (and farther north).

[muriel_volestrangler]

7. It's a follow-up to a similar discovery last year

http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=588&art_id=nw20080215110917463C724344

"The tomb of a 5 500-year-old man surrounded by three sacrificed humans, two dogs and exquisite ceramics"

I'd hope his claim of 'sacrificed' is backed up by some physical evidence on those bodies - otherwise it might be a family tomb.