The use of prehistoric human skulls

Prehistoric people, particularly in the Ice Age, took advantage of human skulls as cups in macabre parties.

Photo: London Museum

That was the conclusion of archaeologist Silvio Bello, of the Natural History Museum in London after studying cave fossils in southwestern England. The results determined by carbon isotope methods show that the skulls are chiseled into cups here dating to about 14,700 years, according to research published on PLoS ONE website.

Accordingly, ancient cave inhabitants cleaned the skull before using stone tools to cut into bottles. Specialist Bello said that prehistoric people used skull cups during special ceremonies. The gnarled bone discovered near these skulls also shows flesh and marrow marks, probably in human flesh parties. Previously, experts also discovered skull cups in two other caves in France, with ages from 15,000 to 12,000 years ago.