homehome Home chatchat Notifications


Ancient Brits made goblets from skulls

Nowadays Brits may be some of the most civilized people on Earth, but 15.000 years ago, things were really different. Ancient Britons devoured their dead and made ritualic goblets from their skulls, a study conducted by London’s Natural History Museum concluded. The gruelsome discovery was made in Southern England, more specifically in Gough’s Cave in […]

Mihai Andrei
February 16, 2011 @ 8:32 pm

share Share

Britton skull goblets - similar to this, only real

Nowadays Brits may be some of the most civilized people on Earth, but 15.000 years ago, things were really different. Ancient Britons devoured their dead and made ritualic goblets from their skulls, a study conducted by London’s Natural History Museum concluded. The gruelsome discovery was made in Southern England, more specifically in Gough’s Cave in the Cheddar Gorge in the southwestern English county of Somerset.

The process was a pretty elaborate one; after they ate the dead, they cut the skin to the bone, then they removed the facial bones and smoothed the edges to create skull cups, as researchers wrote in PLoS

“All in all it was a very painstaking process given the tools available,” Silvio Bello, paleontologist, said in a statement. “It’s impossible to know how the skull-cups were used back then, but in recent examples they may hold blood, wine or food during rituals,” said Chris Stringer, who helped excavate one of the skull-cups in 1987.

The circumstances of the deaths however, remain a mystery. It’s uncertain if it was enemies who were “used” in this way, or if it was a sign of respect, or some other form of manifestation. Drinking from skulls is not that uncommon, and has also been recorded with Vikings, Australian Aborigines and in tantric Buddhist rituals. You can see a precise cast of one of the skull-cups, complete with cut marks in the London museum, from March 1.

share Share

Humans Have Been Reshaping Earth with Fire for at Least 50,000 Years

Fossil charcoal reveals early humans’ growing impact on the carbon cycle before the Ice Age.

AI Helped Decode a 3,000-Year-Old Babylonian Hymn That Describes a City More Welcoming Than You’d Expect

Rediscovered text reveals daily life and ideals of ancient Babylon.

The Woman of Margaux: Reconstructing the Face and Life of a 10,500-Year-Old Hunter-Gatherer

A new facial reconstruction challenges old ideas about Europe’s ancient inhabitants

An Overlooked Hill in Bolivia Turned Out to Be One of the Andes’ Oldest Temples

A temple bigger than a city block was hiding in plain sight for over 1,000 years.

The Story Behind This Female Pharaoh's Broken Statues Is Way Weirder Than We Thought

New study reveals the ancient Egyptian's odd way of retiring a pharaoh.

A Medieval Sword Sat Hidden in a Dutch River for 1,000 Years Until Construction Workers Found It

Surely whoever who pulled it out should now be king.

Scientists Just Proved Ancient Humans Were in North America 10,000 Years Earlier Than We Thought

Ancient mud tells a story critics can no longer ignore

The world's oldest boomerang is even older than we thought, but it's not Australian

The story of the boomerang goes back in time even more.

Construction Workers in Denmark Uncover Viking Graves Linked to King Bluetooth

A stunning Viking Age cemetery reveals lives of privilege, politics—and perhaps servitude.

Archaeologists Find Mysterious Stone Slab With 255 Runes in Canada

A 200-year-old runic Lord’s Prayer found in Ontario defies easy explanation.