Just looking at the images of those poor women's skeletons and the position they were placed in was particularly shocking and cruel. What a dreadful way to die, how another human can inflict this suffering never ceases to shock me.
My guess is human sacrifice was common in most primitive societies and the people sacrificed were war captives as they didn't had the institutions to maintain slavery so they didn't had much use for them. Stone age farmers brutally killing captives in public ceremonies is something that happened in North America until less than 200 years ago.
Horror at the obvious pain and weight of doom is inevitable. Yes, progress exists, though evidence indicates it is hard won, fragile and what passes for it can carry perils of its own. The shape and texture of the vast gulf between us and our deepest ancestors remains incompletely charted. That they carried out such gruesome rites but also ultimately rebelled against and extinguished them is one quick way to frame the whole picture.
Horrific and impossible (?) for us to grasp how and why these things took place.
Could the women have been placed there one by one so that time passed in between each ritual?
A while back I wrote a story about a small tribe near the Pontic-Caspian steppe. Based on this new information it sounds like my story would require a lot of editing to match reality.
The beginning of justification for mass murder. When does a murder "look like" self-murder? Anti-civilization.
Isn't this "traditional human sacrifice" bound up in the idea of the "Circle of Life" that justifies human murder because it "results in" agricultural fertility?
Beware of "Circle of Life" rationales. Not the Rule of Law, if it ("Life") justifies human murder.
Human sacrifice was shockingly common in the past. I've been an enthusiast of this era for a long time, but I never bought into the "peaceful matriarchy" theory.
If one goes by what the Aztecs and other Neolithic tribes did, the sacrifices were either to bring back the spring, or bring back the light over the winter solstice. The old woman could represent the crone, thus sacrificing old life for new, and the younger women were possibly sacrifices for fertility of grain, livestock, and tribesmen.
There are mysteries out there, and nobody knows why Gobekle Tepe was built, then suddenly buried.
Just looking at the images of those poor women's skeletons and the position they were placed in was particularly shocking and cruel. What a dreadful way to die, how another human can inflict this suffering never ceases to shock me.
My guess is human sacrifice was common in most primitive societies and the people sacrificed were war captives as they didn't had the institutions to maintain slavery so they didn't had much use for them. Stone age farmers brutally killing captives in public ceremonies is something that happened in North America until less than 200 years ago.
Horror at the obvious pain and weight of doom is inevitable. Yes, progress exists, though evidence indicates it is hard won, fragile and what passes for it can carry perils of its own. The shape and texture of the vast gulf between us and our deepest ancestors remains incompletely charted. That they carried out such gruesome rites but also ultimately rebelled against and extinguished them is one quick way to frame the whole picture.
Now do the January 6th protesters in solidarity
Isn’t it interesting that 3500 years later, a preacher came along with the idea of a millstone tied to the neck. Hmm.
Horrific and impossible (?) for us to grasp how and why these things took place.
Could the women have been placed there one by one so that time passed in between each ritual?
A while back I wrote a story about a small tribe near the Pontic-Caspian steppe. Based on this new information it sounds like my story would require a lot of editing to match reality.
https://acabinetofcuriosities.substack.com/p/the-first-rider
The beginning of justification for mass murder. When does a murder "look like" self-murder? Anti-civilization.
Isn't this "traditional human sacrifice" bound up in the idea of the "Circle of Life" that justifies human murder because it "results in" agricultural fertility?
Beware of "Circle of Life" rationales. Not the Rule of Law, if it ("Life") justifies human murder.
Human sacrifice was shockingly common in the past. I've been an enthusiast of this era for a long time, but I never bought into the "peaceful matriarchy" theory.
If one goes by what the Aztecs and other Neolithic tribes did, the sacrifices were either to bring back the spring, or bring back the light over the winter solstice. The old woman could represent the crone, thus sacrificing old life for new, and the younger women were possibly sacrifices for fertility of grain, livestock, and tribesmen.
There are mysteries out there, and nobody knows why Gobekle Tepe was built, then suddenly buried.
All we have are cave paintings to go by.