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So, who was/were the sacrifice? The couple facing each other? One or both of the women? And what about the animals? Were they sacrifices too? How do the archaeologists know?
"Despite the documented evidence of chess historian H.J.R. Murray, I have always thought that chess was invented by a goddess." George Koltanowski, from Women in Chess, Players of the Modern Game
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Wednesday, February 4, 2009
"Oldest Human Sacrifice" Found in Africa?
A typical sensationalist story with absolutely no explanation tendered as to why the archaeologists think this burial or burials entailed human sacrifice. When I read stories like this one, I always wonder why the person(s) who provided the information to the reporter neglects to provide pertinent details - is it perhaps that the pertinent details do not exist?
Africa's oldest human sacrifice 'confirmed' in Sudan
From correspondents in Khartoum
February 05, 2009 02:36am
(Story from Herald Sun.com.au)
FRENCH archaeologists in northern Sudan say they've unearthed a 5,500 year-old Stone Age tomb which they believe confirms the location of Africa's "oldest human sacrifice".
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 "confirms'' excavations last year which found traces of the oldest human sacrifice ever identified in Africa, said Jacques Reinold, a researcher for the French section of the Sudanese antiquities department.
The unearthed bones date from between 3,700 and 3,400 BC, a period considered to be one of 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.
Reinold's team also unearthed polished axes, a millstone, make-up palettes and ceramics at Al-Kadada.
A useful work
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