By: Marshall Ramsey II, Worthy News U.S. Correspondent
PUGLIA, Italy -- (WorthyNews) A cave filled with both animal, and human, bones bears witness to a bizarre ancient burial ritual known as de-fleshing. It is the process by which the flesh is removed from a person's bones after death, and appears to be a pre-Israelite burial ritual similar to that of the ossuary.
Called Scaloria Cave and found in the Tavoliere region of southeastern Italy, it is a "stalactite-filled grotto" that has the bones of both humans and animals scattered about, and practiced all over the world, say researchers writing in the latest issue of Antiquity. Sealed off until its discovery in 1931, Scaloria Cave was "uniquely able to preserve" the human remains that were mixed randomly with animal bones, stone tools, and broken pottery. This appears to be the "first well-documented case for early farmers in Europe of people trying to actively deflesh the dead," says John Robb, an archaeologist at the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom and project leader.
Testing performed on the skeletons present (few whole skeletons were present, suggesting that only certain bones were buried) revealed light cut marks, suggesting that residual muscle tissue only needed to be removed at the time of defleshing. This means that the remains were likely placed in the cave as much as a year after death. This practice is a pre-cursor to the Israelite custom of burying the dead, letting the flesh rot from the person's bones, and then taking up the bones and sealing them in a small coffin called an ossuary. This suggests a cultural connection going back hundreds of years, even before the time of the Great Flood of Genesis 6.
Pre-Flood communities, sometimes called Neolithic communities, typically buried their dead beneath or beside their homes, or on the outskirts of settlements. In the case of Scaloria Cave, it seems as though farmers from villages as far as 15 to 20 kilometers (9 to 15 miles) away deposited the bones of their dead here, suggesting a communal burial plot, not unlike our modern cemeteries today.
"Neolithic assemblages are often very challenging to interpret, as they are commonly broken, mixed up, and poorly preserved," says Martin Smith, a biological anthropologist at Bournemouth University in the United Kingdom, who was not involved in the research.
The defleshed bones of the dead relatives were scattered in the upper chamber of Scaloria Cave. But why? What was the significance of the practice, if any? Was there a religious significance to it?
The answer lies in the Feast of Passover, the Israelite feast commemorating God's deliverance of the Israelites at the cost of Egypt's first-born. Typically, a two-story house in ancient Israel consisted of a lower level for livestock and an upper level for the family. A person eating in the upper room signified a man dwelling with God in Heaven. (Eternal) death had passed them by, and they now enjoyed life everlasting. Anything left over after the Passover supper was required to be burned with fire. This signified what is known as "second death," when the devil, his angels, and the unrighteous humans will be cast into hellfire, burning forever.
Interestingly, photos of the bones found in Scaloria Cave appear to show the same red ochre that is found on the bones of the Red Lady of El Miron, now identified as Eve (Chaweh in Hebrew), the first woman who ever lived, and the wife of Adam. Obviously the descendants of Adam and Eve, the persons interred in Scaloria Cave also appear to have shared in her religious beliefs, specifically the need for a blood covering to protect one from divine judgment after death. This symbolism is found only in the Christian faith, in that only the blood of Jesus Christ can save us from the punishment issued by God for our sins. While it is true that the Israelite animal sacrifices came first and were important when they were given, the reason Yahweh (Jehovah) gave them is so that they could show the way to Jesus Christ and his then future sacrifice for us.
Note the positions of the bones of the Red Lady/Eve in El Miron Cave in Spain and those of the people in Scaloria Cave in Italy: The same. Note also the positions of the animal bones in both caves: The same. Note further the use of the red ochre, long used as a symbol for blood, in covering the bones: The same. Since blood signifies life, it stands to reason that the reason the bones were covered in red ochre meant the persons buried believed in a life after death, one that was very pleasurable, one that involved the resurrection of the dead, not of spirit only, but the resurrection of the body.
It appears as though Eve, having sinned in the garden of Eden, believed the promise of God for a savior, one that would shed his blood for her and die in her place, and passed this belief onto her children, and her children's children, even as many as would receive it.
While bones found without the blood representation of the red ochre does not necessarily mean that the person rejected God and his salvation, it certainly does give us an amazing look at the founding of the Hebrew culture and that of the Christian faith, one that stretches all the way back to our very beginnings with Adam and Eve.
Source article: http://news.sciencemag.org/archaeology/2015/03/stone-age-italians-defleshed-their-dead
Accompanying article: http://conspiracyprophecyguy.blogspot.com/2015/03/has-grave-of-eve-been-found.html
PUGLIA, Italy -- (WorthyNews) A cave filled with both animal, and human, bones bears witness to a bizarre ancient burial ritual known as de-fleshing. It is the process by which the flesh is removed from a person's bones after death, and appears to be a pre-Israelite burial ritual similar to that of the ossuary.
Called Scaloria Cave and found in the Tavoliere region of southeastern Italy, it is a "stalactite-filled grotto" that has the bones of both humans and animals scattered about, and practiced all over the world, say researchers writing in the latest issue of Antiquity. Sealed off until its discovery in 1931, Scaloria Cave was "uniquely able to preserve" the human remains that were mixed randomly with animal bones, stone tools, and broken pottery. This appears to be the "first well-documented case for early farmers in Europe of people trying to actively deflesh the dead," says John Robb, an archaeologist at the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom and project leader.
Testing performed on the skeletons present (few whole skeletons were present, suggesting that only certain bones were buried) revealed light cut marks, suggesting that residual muscle tissue only needed to be removed at the time of defleshing. This means that the remains were likely placed in the cave as much as a year after death. This practice is a pre-cursor to the Israelite custom of burying the dead, letting the flesh rot from the person's bones, and then taking up the bones and sealing them in a small coffin called an ossuary. This suggests a cultural connection going back hundreds of years, even before the time of the Great Flood of Genesis 6.
Pre-Flood communities, sometimes called Neolithic communities, typically buried their dead beneath or beside their homes, or on the outskirts of settlements. In the case of Scaloria Cave, it seems as though farmers from villages as far as 15 to 20 kilometers (9 to 15 miles) away deposited the bones of their dead here, suggesting a communal burial plot, not unlike our modern cemeteries today.
"Neolithic assemblages are often very challenging to interpret, as they are commonly broken, mixed up, and poorly preserved," says Martin Smith, a biological anthropologist at Bournemouth University in the United Kingdom, who was not involved in the research.
The defleshed bones of the dead relatives were scattered in the upper chamber of Scaloria Cave. But why? What was the significance of the practice, if any? Was there a religious significance to it?
The answer lies in the Feast of Passover, the Israelite feast commemorating God's deliverance of the Israelites at the cost of Egypt's first-born. Typically, a two-story house in ancient Israel consisted of a lower level for livestock and an upper level for the family. A person eating in the upper room signified a man dwelling with God in Heaven. (Eternal) death had passed them by, and they now enjoyed life everlasting. Anything left over after the Passover supper was required to be burned with fire. This signified what is known as "second death," when the devil, his angels, and the unrighteous humans will be cast into hellfire, burning forever.
Interestingly, photos of the bones found in Scaloria Cave appear to show the same red ochre that is found on the bones of the Red Lady of El Miron, now identified as Eve (Chaweh in Hebrew), the first woman who ever lived, and the wife of Adam. Obviously the descendants of Adam and Eve, the persons interred in Scaloria Cave also appear to have shared in her religious beliefs, specifically the need for a blood covering to protect one from divine judgment after death. This symbolism is found only in the Christian faith, in that only the blood of Jesus Christ can save us from the punishment issued by God for our sins. While it is true that the Israelite animal sacrifices came first and were important when they were given, the reason Yahweh (Jehovah) gave them is so that they could show the way to Jesus Christ and his then future sacrifice for us.
Note the positions of the bones of the Red Lady/Eve in El Miron Cave in Spain and those of the people in Scaloria Cave in Italy: The same. Note also the positions of the animal bones in both caves: The same. Note further the use of the red ochre, long used as a symbol for blood, in covering the bones: The same. Since blood signifies life, it stands to reason that the reason the bones were covered in red ochre meant the persons buried believed in a life after death, one that was very pleasurable, one that involved the resurrection of the dead, not of spirit only, but the resurrection of the body.
It appears as though Eve, having sinned in the garden of Eden, believed the promise of God for a savior, one that would shed his blood for her and die in her place, and passed this belief onto her children, and her children's children, even as many as would receive it.
While bones found without the blood representation of the red ochre does not necessarily mean that the person rejected God and his salvation, it certainly does give us an amazing look at the founding of the Hebrew culture and that of the Christian faith, one that stretches all the way back to our very beginnings with Adam and Eve.
Source article: http://news.sciencemag.org/archaeology/2015/03/stone-age-italians-defleshed-their-dead
Accompanying article: http://conspiracyprophecyguy.blogspot.com/2015/03/has-grave-of-eve-been-found.html
