Archaeology: 10 ancient stories of long-forgotten children

Even a little can tell very mnogoInogda archaeologists are more similar to the ancient storytellers who use the remains found in the ground for the reconstruction of pictures and stories, magically taking us to other places and times. Here they tell us the history of the ancient long-forgotten children. Some of them are mysterious, other - awful.

1. Sunrise OriensV October 2013 in the Leicestershire one treasure hunter armed with a metal detector found the meter leaded coffin Roman child, a girl who archaeologists decided to call "Oriens", meaning "to rise (like the sun)».





It is believed that the Oriens was buried in about the third or fourth century, and probably came from a wealthy family who could afford to order a child a lead coffin, which was a rarity. Many children in those days were buried wrapped in a shroud.

Although Oriens by only a few bone fragments, archaeologists were able to restore some of the details of its history, including the features of the society in which she lived. "The presence of spices, olive oil and pistachio nut resin in the soil found in the tomb Oriens indicates a person of very high status, which was buried on the very expensive to the Mediterranean tradition. All of these resins were to mask the smell of decaying flesh, and performed funeral rites were to ease the transition into the afterlife Oriens. From a social point of view, it also points out that the inhabitants of Roman Britain continued to observe continental funeral rites, which were needed imported resin from the Middle East, "- said archaeologist Stuart Palmer from Yorkshire.

2. Mystery girl pevitsyPochti 3000 years ago a seven-year Tzhayyasetimu was a singer in the temple choir and sang for the pharaohs of ancient Egypt. And while many of their secrets, she took with her to the grave, curators at the British Museum, where the girl mummy was exhibited in 2014, still managed to find some items that tell something about it.

We do not know where she lived and where she worked as the mummy of the British Museum acquired one reseller in 1888. However, the body Tzhayyasetimu incredibly well preserved.

In 1970, in the course of recovery activities under the blackened oil that covered the mummy bandages were discovered hieroglyphs. The discovered inscriptions clarified occupation girl and her name. Tzhayyasetimu name, which literally means' the goddess Isis has to grab them, "protected from evil spirits.

Her work, a singer in the temple of the god Amon, was considered honorable. She must have been a very important person, because it was buried with a gold mask on her face.

In 2013, a CT scan showed that her body was well preserved. Preserved and long, shoulder-length hair. The body showed no signs of physical trauma or a long illness. So experts believe that she died after a short illness, such as cholera.

3. Mystery of infants from the sewers of the Roman Empire infanticide was widely practiced as a way of limiting the size of the family, as no other methods of birth control was not. In addition, it helps to save scarce resources and improve the lives of other family members. Children under the age of six months were not considered by the Roman society as full-fledged people.



In 1988 in Ashkelon, on the southern coast of Israel, it had made a terrible discovery. Archaeologists have discovered an ancient sewage system, where previously housed the Roman Baths, a mass grave - almost a hundred children.

The bones of the skeletons for the most part have not been damaged. So scientists believe that they were thrown into the sewers after the death. Given the complete absence of signs of disease, and the fact that their age was about the same, it can be assumed that the cause of death was murder.

Although the Romans valued more than boys, researchers have no definitive evidence that Rome has consistently killed more than female infants, but not men. And baths Ashkelon this question too was unable to clarify.

According to some archaeologists, these baths were also a brothel. Experts have suggested that these babies could be working there unwanted children of prostitutes. And some babies, girls, perhaps kept alive so that they too could become prostitutes when they grow up.

4. Wonderful children yuveliryPrimerno 4000 years ago in prehistoric Britain's children have set the task to decorate jewelry and weapons tiny gold pins thickness of a human hair.

In some cases, a single square centimeter timber can hold up to 1000 of these pins. Scientists have found all of this, found during excavations fragments of richly decorated wooden handle of the dagger. The excavations were carried out in the early 19th century in Bush barrow near Stonehenge.



The found fragments were trimmed so skillfully that the trim was hard to see with the naked eye. As a result, experts have concluded that the trim handle dagger engaged adolescents and children aged 10 years. The vision of adult acute enough for the job and he could not have done it without a magnifying glass, as already at 21 vision begins to deteriorate.

Although the children enjoyed simple tools, was finishing complex geometry and design. But such a beautiful handmade cost them dearly. Most likely, the very sight of children deteriorated rapidly and in 15 years they have been able to develop the last stage of myopathy, and in 20 years they could partially blind. This would make them unable to work, and they could only rely on the support of the community.

5. Surprisingly good roditeliPolagaya that Neanderthals greatly underestimate some archaeologists from York University wanted to rewrite the history of the prehistoric people. Until recently it was believed that children's lives Neanderthal was a dangerous, difficult and short. But the team from York after studying a number of social and cultural life of the Neanderthals of evidence in the territory of present-day Europe has come to a different conclusion.



"Reputation Neanderthals changes. Partly because they have a certain similarity with us, and also because of the new data about how they lived. There is a fundamental difference between severe childhood and childhood, held in harsh conditions, "- said Dr. Penny Spaykins, the lead researcher.

Spaykins believes that Neanderthal family had strong family ties. She also believes that children Neanderthals learned to make tools. In two different locations in different countries, researchers found, along with a very well rounded stones others treated very rudely. Everything looked as if the children learn from adults how to make stone axes.

By studying prehistoric burial of infants and children, Spaykins found that parents Neanderthals buried their children with great care. Therefore, among the discovered remains of skeletons of more children than adults skeletons. And still a team of York claims that Neanderthals parents cared for their sick or injured children, sometimes for years.

6. Roman scouts EgiptaChtoby learn about his childhood in the ancient city Ozirinchos in Roman Egypt, historians have examined almost 7,500 documents dating is believed to be the sixth century before. Ozirinchos was a Roman administrative center of the region, and there were about 25,000 people. And yet this city has been a source of resources for the weaving industry in Egypt.



From papyri found during excavations, historians know that in Roman Egypt had its own version of the Boy Scouts, a youth organization that is known as the "gymnasium" in which young people explaining how to become good citizens. Join organizations to boys from families svobodnorozhdёnnyh Egyptians, Greeks, and of Roman families.

For boys, fit these criteria, registration in the gymnasium marked the beginning of their transition to adulthood. Men become fully grown when they married, reaching twenty years. And women, who are usually married, barely crossed adolescence, pre-prepared for the role of wives working in their families.

Children svobodnorozhdёnnyh citizens who, for whatever reasons, did not take in the gymnasium, could in time to try again to get there, but up to this point since the age of ten they can work on a contract for two or four years as an apprentice. Many of these contracts was due to the weaving. Historians got a contract for a student girl. They believe that the situation of the girls was unique because she was an orphan, and she needed to work to pay off debts dead father.

Children of slaves could also enter into contracts for school.

But, unlike the children free families, slave children could be sold. They had to live with their owners or masters, even if it had to part with their own parents.

7. Mystery "moose geoglyphs" in photographs taken from space in 2011, is clearly seen giant geoglyphs in the Ural mountains, shaped like a moose, which is believed to have been a precursor of geoglyphs in the Nazca in Peru. Type of masonry, known as "chipping", suggests that this building was built in 3000-m, or even in 4000 BC. e.



The length of the construction of about 275 meters. Moose muzzle directed to the north, so that the geoglyphs in prehistoric times could be seen from a nearby ridge, and he looked like a glowing white figure against a background of green grass. Currently, the land is covered by geoglyphs.

Archeologists who conducted excavations struck reasonableness of this design.

"Hooves are made of fine of splintered stones and clay. I think before there were very low walls, and among them were passes. A similar situation and in the muzzle: there is gravel and clay, four small broad walls and three passes, "- said Stanislav Grigoriev of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

But there are still many unanswered questions.

For example, exactly who and what built this building?

There is no archaeological evidence that in this region at that time was a culture advanced enough to build something like this.

And that's not all. The researchers believe that their discovery of the most interesting due to the children. During excavations, archaeologists have found in the area more than 150 different instruments, the length of which varied from 2 to 17 cm. They suggest that children working in this big "public project" side by side with older, helping them to build the geoglyphs. And it seems it was not a child slave labor, it was the joint efforts of people with shared values ​​to achieve an important goal.

8. Children oblakovV July 2013 in the mountainous part of the region of Amazonas in Peru, archaeologists discovered 35 sarcophagi, whose height is only 30 cm. Such a small height suggest that these sarcophagi were intended for the children of the mysterious culture chachapoya, whose members called themselves "warriors of the clouds "as lived in the mountainous rainforests.



In the period from the 9th century until 1475 when the Incas were conquered Chachapoyan, they created whole villages and farms directly into the steep mountain slopes, raised llamas and guinea pigs, and occasionally fought each other. In the end, their culture was completely destroyed by diseases such as smallpox, which brought European researchers.

We know very little about Chachapoyan and their children, as they are not left behind no written language. However, the Spanish documents of the 16th century describe how chachapoya fierce warriors.

Pedro Sieza de Leon (Pedro Cieza de Leon), who studied the history of Peru, described the appearance of the soldiers as follows: "They are whiter and more beautiful than any of the people I've seen here, and their wives were so beautiful that because of the beauty and goodness Many of them became the wives of the Inca, and many went to the Temple of the Sun ».

But "cloud warriors" still left a piece of their culture in a strange mummified dead in coffins, which were placed on high bluffs overlooking the valley.

Clay coffins were standing upright, and their shape resembles humans in the coloring, in tunics with feathers in jewelry and even a trophy skulls.

But no one knows why these children were buried in the cemetery of their own, separately from adults. It is also unclear why all these little coffins are facing west, which does not tend to the graves Chachapoyan.

9. Gifts bogamDrevnie Lake District village of the Bronze Age on the territory of present-day Germany and Switzerland were scattered around the alpine lakes. When these areas in the 70s began the excavations, archaeologists have found about 160 houses, whose age ranged from 2,600 to 3,800 years. The houses on the banks of the lake were often flooded. To escape the coming water, their inhabitants to move to the land. And when the water level returns to normal, they again returned to their homes.

Trying to adapt to regular flooding, the inhabitants of lakes built houses on stilts or on a solid base of wood, surrounded by wooden fences of their homes and on the outskirts of villages set on fences baby skulls and skeletons.

Archaeologists believe that these skulls were probably gifts for the gods and the lake were to prevent floods. At one point these children, many of whom were not even ten, were buried there, where the water during the flood reached the highest level.

However, researchers have not managed to find the graves of adult inhabitants of the lake, so that they do not know how in those days looked ordinary funeral.

10. Baby waiting vechnostiBolee 40 years ago in Greenland during the hunt two brothers stumbled upon Inuit burial, which turned out to be 500-year-old mummy, well preserved in the arctic climate. In two separate graves were eight bodies - six women and two small child, and all were hunting clothes. Inuit belief that time demanded that the people were ready to hunt even after his death.



"Greenland Mummies", as they are known, have given a lot of information about the life of people of that time, but the question because they were faced with even more.

Archaeologists have found that among the members of this group were related communications. However, they were not buried according to tribal traditions, which is the first mystery. In addition, they were buried without men, which is contrary to Inuit customs and is the second secret.

All the women, except one, had tattoos, fashion at the time. All these women were well fed before he died, with the bulk of their diet is seafood. Condition their bodies showed that women often have to work with hides, skins and tendons. It seems that the cause of death of the two women and the older child was the disease, but it is not clear, from what everyone else died.

The most heartbreaking story involves six months, the youngest, a boy. It seems he was buried alive. His face was lifted up as if he was waiting for his mother, who never touches it. According to Inuit customs, if the death of the mother of the child was not a woman capable of taking care of him, it either strangled or buried alive. It was believed that if a child buried next to his dead mother in the afterlife, they go together.

via listverse.com/2015/01/23/10-ancient-childrens-tales-told-by-modern-archaeologists/