"Heads on Sticks" was the theme of the Senior Literature class I used to teach. Sometimes "on sticks" was a bit of a stretch, but it worked. Begin with Beowulf (Mum's head hauled to the hall), The Heart of Darkness (obvious), up to The Importance of Being Earnest (Lady B was a figurative taker of heads.) Nothing delights teens as much as a touch of dark humor. :)

"... whatever you say - it says more about your attitude towards human nature ..." Wonderful!

Good morning from the drizzly SF Bay Area. Gives a new meaning to "heads up!"

The idea of the heads on stakes being a sign of a barrier beyond which you shall not pass ( 2:20 ) from a 7,500 year old site makes me think of the documentary Into Eternity about the Onkolo nuclear waste site that is designed to last 100,000 years and the question they ask; what type of sign can we make to inform people thousands of years from now that this place is not safe and to stay out? It's a documentary followers of this channel may like because it deals with time over human scale and Earth scale.

The bear bone connected to the boar bone….

"In Norway the heads of corpses were cut off to make their ghosts feeble." from Yeat's book on Irish folklore

Yaaayyyy!!!! *settles down with coffee in hand and a giant smile on face*

How extremely intriguing!

Ahhh the good ol’ days.

Hunter gatherers settled in Scandinavia as soon as the ice retreated. They arrived in boats and were fishing but especially hunting seals. So it is an important area in the discussion about how long ago people managed to be seafaring and move around over the waters. Gradually people settled in and started hunting more on land but that coastal lifestyle stayed important. It leads researchers to remark how boats must have been around even during the upper paleolithic. Because we have the same evidence increasingly that Magdalenian and Solutrean people in France and Spain were out on the ocean already from 25 thousand years ago or longer. And this provides evidence for the Solutrean Hypothesis as well. The fishing and sealhunting began at sites such as La Riera or Nerja. As far as we can tell because sea level rise has hidden other coastal evidence.

Great stuff guys!! As always another interesting, stimulating and entertaining video. Love it thank you.

So, you have bones of fishermen and boars, bears and badgers. But no deer or grazers, mainly omnivores and carnivores which are territorial. And the artificial island was a well defined territory in a lake. And one men of the skulls-on-a-stick clearly had been fighting to conquer or defend something. A possible explanation would be that a fishing community used the island to bring rare Meat offerings to watergods and at the same time signal that these waters were theirs.

THANK YOU , SHARE, SHARE

Nuts? Hazelnuts? Hazelnuts were a staple diet of the Mesolithic, and actually cultivated in Mesolithic forest gardening...

Just about my favorite thumbnail screen ever.

A second paper was just released! It focuses on the context of the area through reconstruction of artificial landforms and artifacts and it is now known the artificial island was the site of an ancient brewery, requiring the need for large amounts of water.

Interesting find. Thanks for sharing!

It's not a commonly discussed phenomenon that concussions and minor brain injuries can lead to spiritual and metaphysical experiences. The fact that these individuals were chosen and that each had specific cranial injury suggests to me that there could be a correlation between the injuries, their medical and psychological effects, and their relationship to spirituality and the spiritual cultural beliefs of the people. Given the nature of the injuries, that the injuries were survived and that they differ between male and female subjects combined with their having been very intentionally placed in the way described, and the physical location chosen suggests to me the possibility that the location and placement was dedicated to particular individuals who were either accidentally or intentionally injured in order to be spiritual guides. * The infant skull is an exception in being without injuries, and yet said infant or child could have had some other medical or psychological predisposition toward qualifying as spiritual or more open. I have some education in archeology but a significant amount of experience in the academic study of the relationship between brain injury/ concussions and spiritual or metaphysical experiences. So this informed surmise. Surmise nonetheless, and my projection based on singular and subjective views very certainly.

Interesting that the diet of the bodies found consisted of fish, nuts and berries - and not boar, bear and other remains found at the site. It looks like these victims did not share on the consumption of boar or bear, despite the butchery marks.

Great video! Just one thing, we spell Kanaljorden with an "e" at the end there, not an "a". 😊

The thumbnail photo with text made this Norske from Minnesota, USA laugh. Very interesting. Subtext of humor appreciated.

Love this! Thank you!

I couldn't help envision the opening scene from Gladiator, when the barbarian walks out of the woods with a head in his hands, then tosses it in front of him screaming something in old Scandinavian.

Fisher-gatherers, interesting burial. Maybe these adult skulls belonged to tribal heroes

At first glance, I thought Michael had dreadlocks...

Would liked to hear more from your guest.

One is a relative on my fathers side... WHG..

In some mythologies water is gate to the afterlife. In bear cult-to which those bear bones point to-bear skulls are placed on top of the sticks or hang to the trees to guide the bear's soul to the afterlife (Ursa Major): "Joseph Campbell - Cave Bears and the Birth of Mythology".

The fact that there is evidence of healing of the skulls subsequent to the blunt force trauma would discount the site as being due to sacrifice or execution, therefore not the same as the famous "bog bodies". Perhaps these people had suffered injuries while defending a village, and later died, and were buried together as a memorial to their deeds. While there were certainly female warriors in the past, not all cultures had them. Perhaps the men were injured while fighting, and the women while attempting to take cover or escape. All speculation of course, but that scenario would align with the position of the injuries. Fish being a major part of the diet for those people makes sense. It's still the same for modern inhabitants of Scandinavia.

I wish for more pictures!

Too bad we can’t go back in time and ask “ so, like, why did you put those peoples heads on sticks?” Because the answer could be very involved and far stranger than we, in our modern life, can imagine.

pre-historic crumpets a'plenty!

A Pirate Island?

Baton Rouge if they were ochre. Like the namesake in Louisiana.

Bear , Boar , Badger , all fierce animlas , the deer if a stag could also be seen as a fierce animal ? intresting , jaws missing from the animals and human ? so that may suggest they are seen as the same , fierce ?

Could the animal bones been placed as offerings while still in the form of butchered pieces of animal? The collocated pieces of meat would then decay leaving behind a random scattering of bone. Further movement of the bones could occur via transport from scavengers or wave movement. Just a theory.

How do you guys get full access to these sites? I can imagine there being some protection/security so John Doe stays out. Do you just muscle and bully your way in? 😄

Please, let your guess speak!

What puzzles me is how come these heads belonged to fish , nuts and berry eaters,when they are surrounded by evidence of meat eating? Were they captured slaves from another, more coastal tribe? Were their heads used as a sort of warning, after they died, or could no longer work? Hmm...you've made my mind boggle!

❤❤

Archeology 101, never assume that what you are looking at is a representation of X # of years ago. With wars, & layering of Societies, chances are you are far removed from the reality; "(that this was typical life back in the day)!".

the one guy keeps talking over the other very annoying

Not Fossilized? Hehe Why should we subscribe to your channel when you Really aren't Questioning Anything? You just give Some of the research from the 'Papers' you read? We can do that too. In regard to Gobekli Tepe n other Tepes, we Know Hunter Gatherers doesn't mean they are Nomadic. However, we do know from Any Large Well Organized Civilizations that people are utilizing Farming. Especially, when the Tepes have Many Large Areas; Large Limestone Vessels... I'm tired of my Colleagues Bantering without Proper Speculation. I'm not saying you Must say things are True; just Speculation. Seems you will only Speculate on the Ideas you want. 13 Large Mounds(Tepes) Well Organized is not by Hunter Gatherers SMH. PLUS, Most of the Mounds haven't been Fully excavated. So it's Even Much More than we think. Not 12,000 years old fellas. Get over your Invalid Dating Assessments. Toodles Brits.

Great content again guys, we do miss you while you're off on your adventures! Lots of food for thought here, although it's pretty obvious that man's inhumanity to both women and other men can't really be questioned, even today. It's nice to know there are some good guys out there. @roxiepoe9586, thanks for an amazing idea to entertain and enlighten my C2, English Proficiency class! My head is buzzing with ideas!