Hopewell Mound Skulls: Interpreting the Unknown

Rdikeman

    Often with the discovery, or re-interpretation of previously excavated burials, it it difficult to determine whether or not dismemberment was done as part of mortuary practice, or during the act of violence. Because these remains are ancient, and all living relatives have long passed on, deciphering cut marks and dismemberment of bones is often quite difficult and takes a multiple discipline approach to formulate a precise hypothesis.
     Archaeologists excavation Hopewell mounds came across this exact predicament. Anthropologists from the University of Sao Paulo and the University of Cambridge,questioned whether the dismembered skulls found in Chillicothe, Ohio, were that of mortuary practices amongst honoured ancestors, or victims of violent trauma (Lepper, 2014).

Mounds at Hopewell: wikipedia

    After closely analysing 112 skulls from a collection of skulls known to be the product of headhunting practice amongst the Borneo, it was still unclear whether or not those skulls from the Hopewell mounds were the also the products of violent trauma. The arachaeologists eventually conclude that the skulls were more likely to be those of honoured ancestors, although I find this conclusion slightly hastened.  
    It was mentioned in the article that the archaeologists did not have an in-depth background in the Borneo's headhunting practices (Lepper, 2014). I personally find it odd that a conclusion can then be made using the skulls from the Borneo comparative collection, when none of the archaeologists have any amount of historical background in regards to Borneo's headhunting practices.


The article I referenced can be found here:
http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/science/2014/03/02/hopewell-skulls-pose-a-mystery.html