Study suggests Neolithic women in Europe were bound and buried alive in ritual sacrifices
A recent study has revealed a disturbing trend of sacrificial killings spanning more than 2,000 years. The research, published in Science Advances, delves into the horrific tradition of “incaprettamento,” a method of murder that involves tying victims’ necks to their legs behind their backs, causing them to strangle.
The study, led by Eric Crubézy, a biological anthropologist at Paul Sabatier University in Toulouse, France, and forensic pathologist Bertrand Ludes of Paris Cité University, focuses on a grave discovered more than two decades ago near Avignon in southern France.
This grave, which resembles a silo used to store grain, contained the remains of three women buried about 5,500 years ago. Through a re-evaluation of this grave and an examination of similar cases across Europe, researchers identified a pattern of sacrificial killings.
The victims, believed to have been deliberately killed, were bound in the manner of incaprettamento before being buried, likely while still alive. The position of the victims, with two women buried face down under the eaves of the grave and a third in a central position, suggests a ritualized form of homicidal strangulation. Furthermore, heavy grinding stones found at the site indicate that despite being bound, the victims were likely alive when buried.
This gruesome practice of incaprettamento appears to have been widespread across Neolithic Europe, with evidence found at 14 sites spanning from the Czech Republic to Spain. The earliest known occurrence dates back to around 5400 BC. C., while the latest discovery at Saint-Paul-Trois-Châteaux suggests that the practice persisted for more than two millennia.
The study also highlights the presence of agricultural symbolism around the grave, indicating a possible connection with agricultural practices during the Neolithic period. According to Crubézy, the ritual could have originated as a sacrificial custom before the arrival of agriculture and was later associated with agricultural rituals.
While the motivations behind these sacrificial killings remain unclear, researchers speculate that the method of incaprettamento may have been used to create the illusion of self-inflicted strangulation.
Further research is needed to fully understand the significance of these sacrificial killings and their connection to the development of agriculture during the Neolithic period.
