Dec 16, 2024 05:11 PM
Somerset Bronze Age massacre victims likely cannibalised
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/crl3jn3elz3o
EXCERPTS: Scientists have uncovered the aftermath of an "exceptionally violent" attack about 4,000 years ago in Somerset when at least 37 people appear to have been butchered and likely eaten. It is the largest case of violence between humans identified in early Bronze Age England, which had been considered a peaceful time.
The victims' bones were found by cavers in the 1970s. Experts believe they were thrown into a 15m shaft by the prehistoric attackers. The massacre was probably driven by a furious "desire for revenge" and its effects likely "echoed through generations", says Professor Rick Schulting at Oxford university.
He says the victims may have been eaten as a ritual to "dehumanise" them and to send a message by "insulting the remains".
[...] The Bronze Age in Britain lasted from about 2500–2000 BC until 800BC, and was a time when bronze replaced stone for making tools and weapons. People developed new agricultural methods, creating large and permanent farms... (MORE - missing details details)
What happened to the Vikings' slaves?
https://www.sciencenorway.no/history-vik...es/2440850
EXCERPTS: Every fourth inhabitant of Norway was a slave, or thrall, in the Viking Age, according to Jón Viðar Sigurðsson, a professor at the University of Oslo. These were women and men who had been captured by Vikings during raids all over Europe.
“The Vikings also bought thralls at slave markets that existed throughout Europe. They were for personal use or to resell at markets in the Arab world,” says Sigurðsson.
Norwegians could also end up as thralls in Norway. “People with debt problems could become slaves until they had paid off their debt,” he says.
And some were born into slavery. “If thralls had children together, then the children likely became slaves as well. Men abused their thrall women. Many probably had children with their owners,” says Sigurðsson. These children became thralls, but their fathers could also choose to free them.
Some slaves bought their own freedom, according to the sagas. “The possibility of escaping slavery was important. It gave people hope and motivation. Some slave owners allowed their slaves to take on extra work so they could save money and buy their way out of captivity,” explains Sigurðsson.
Escape was not an option, since it required transportation and resources that the slaves did not have.
[...] The Viking Age ended around 1050, and Norway entered the Middle Ages. What happened to the thralls?
“They stopped importing slaves. Those already in Norway eventually died. Additionally, a significant number of slaves were freed,” says Sigurðsson. With no new slaves being imported, and as existing slaves died or were freed, slavery gradually disappeared. Sigurðsson does not believe thethralls returned to their homelands... (MORE - missing details)
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/crl3jn3elz3o
EXCERPTS: Scientists have uncovered the aftermath of an "exceptionally violent" attack about 4,000 years ago in Somerset when at least 37 people appear to have been butchered and likely eaten. It is the largest case of violence between humans identified in early Bronze Age England, which had been considered a peaceful time.
The victims' bones were found by cavers in the 1970s. Experts believe they were thrown into a 15m shaft by the prehistoric attackers. The massacre was probably driven by a furious "desire for revenge" and its effects likely "echoed through generations", says Professor Rick Schulting at Oxford university.
He says the victims may have been eaten as a ritual to "dehumanise" them and to send a message by "insulting the remains".
[...] The Bronze Age in Britain lasted from about 2500–2000 BC until 800BC, and was a time when bronze replaced stone for making tools and weapons. People developed new agricultural methods, creating large and permanent farms... (MORE - missing details details)
What happened to the Vikings' slaves?
https://www.sciencenorway.no/history-vik...es/2440850
EXCERPTS: Every fourth inhabitant of Norway was a slave, or thrall, in the Viking Age, according to Jón Viðar Sigurðsson, a professor at the University of Oslo. These were women and men who had been captured by Vikings during raids all over Europe.
“The Vikings also bought thralls at slave markets that existed throughout Europe. They were for personal use or to resell at markets in the Arab world,” says Sigurðsson.
Norwegians could also end up as thralls in Norway. “People with debt problems could become slaves until they had paid off their debt,” he says.
And some were born into slavery. “If thralls had children together, then the children likely became slaves as well. Men abused their thrall women. Many probably had children with their owners,” says Sigurðsson. These children became thralls, but their fathers could also choose to free them.
Some slaves bought their own freedom, according to the sagas. “The possibility of escaping slavery was important. It gave people hope and motivation. Some slave owners allowed their slaves to take on extra work so they could save money and buy their way out of captivity,” explains Sigurðsson.
Escape was not an option, since it required transportation and resources that the slaves did not have.
[...] The Viking Age ended around 1050, and Norway entered the Middle Ages. What happened to the thralls?
“They stopped importing slaves. Those already in Norway eventually died. Additionally, a significant number of slaves were freed,” says Sigurðsson. With no new slaves being imported, and as existing slaves died or were freed, slavery gradually disappeared. Sigurðsson does not believe thethralls returned to their homelands... (MORE - missing details)