Re: [tied] Re: Cranial Indexing

----- Original Message -----
From: tgpedersen <tgpedersen@...>
To: <cybalist@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Wednesday, April 17, 2002 5:03 AM
Subject: [tied] Re: Cranial Indexing


> --- In cybalist@..., "Gerry Reinhart-Waller" <waluk@...> wrote:
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > One thing that struck me as odd is that in Denmark in the Early
> Roman
> > Iron Age, with mixed grave types, weapons are found only in
> cremation
> > graves. Now what does _that_ mean? Did the invasion leader decide to
> > base his power on the natives instead? I give up. (Doesn't happen
> > often!)
> >
> > Torsten
> >
> >
> > Cremating someone is "without soul or feeling". It's reducing
> humanity to
> > the least common denominator.
> At the very least, those who practise it can't be very strong
> believers in resurrection.
>
> > If weapons were found in cremation graves, then, IMO, it should be
> an
> > indication of a "violent" culture.
> >
> > Gerry Reinhart-Waller
>
> And it was the time and place of the bog corpses, so you're probably
> right about the violence. I would believe myself that inhumation came
> with a religion which believed in an afterlife, in the Zalmoxis
> tradition.
>
> Whoever invaded might have faced, given the relative sizes of
> populations, the same dilemma as Alexander the Great: go native or
> perish.
>
> Did the Celts cremate? Or should one connect that custom with the
> hypothetical "Nordwestblock" language between Celtic and Germanic?
>
> Torsten

Perhaps the early cultures that cremated rather than buried their dead were
preparing for a ritual barbeque. Could have cult significance expecially if
mushrooms were added or even hemp. Did Celts cremate what? Humans? The
enemy? Other primates? Lamb? Differentiating between a barbeque and a
cremation in the archaeological record is extremely difficult.

Gerry