Waste Not, Want Not? Bronze Age Britons Put Human Remains To Good Use
UK researchers took a good look at what people living in Bronze Age Britain did with the remains of their fellow humans.
According to CNN, a new study suggests they kept human remains as relics and even crafted them into musical instruments.
In the most striking example, the team found that a 3,700-year-old human thigh bone had been made into a musical instrument similar to a whistle.
Later, the bone was buried in a man's grave near Stonehenge, a prehistoric monument in Wiltshire, southwestern England.
While fragments of human bones were buried, they were also kept in the homes of the living, buried under house floors, and even placed on display.
This suggests that Bronze Age people did not view human remains with the sense of horror or disgust that we might feel today. Joanna Brück, Study Co-Author University of Bristol
According to CNN, a new study suggests they kept human remains as relics and even crafted them into musical instruments.
In the most striking example, the team found that a 3,700-year-old human thigh bone had been made into a musical instrument similar to a whistle.
Later, the bone was buried in a man's grave near Stonehenge, a prehistoric monument in Wiltshire, southwestern England.
While fragments of human bones were buried, they were also kept in the homes of the living, buried under house floors, and even placed on display.
This suggests that Bronze Age people did not view human remains with the sense of horror or disgust that we might feel today. Joanna Brück, Study Co-Author University of Bristol