The mystery of the burial of amounted women with shells 5,000 years ago: sacrifice or tribute? | The express country

A group of archaeologists tries to decipher a burial as unusual as full of mysteries in Tholos de Montelirio, near Seville: these are the remains of 20 women who were buried forming a circle 5,000 years ago, and whose bodies were adorned with thousands of small white accounts.

• Archaeologists believe that these accounts had to be part of their clothing: in total some 270,000 pieces have been found that were made with 800 kilograms of scallops and cockles.
• And that has an explanation: in ancient times the scope were the symbol of Aphrodite, the goddess of fertility.

But there are more mysteries. Not everyone had the accounts. Only a small group of them placed in particular. And one in particular, which had to be covered with a tunic adorned from the neck to the legs, it had to have a particular relevance because they found it with the raised hands and aligned with a wake that caused that in summer solstice a summer solstice The whole runner until it reaches it.

And there is another fact that adds interest to the finding … A previous study had already found in the bones of these women the greatest mercury concentrations recorded in scientific literature. But it is not known how that mercury came to his bones:

• Some researchers believe they were painted red.
• Others remember that, in low doses, mercury causes the effects of some ritual drugs.
• And there is another possibility that they were sacrificed, poisoned with the cinnabrio and crowded with the shells.

At the moment, it is time to wait for studies to shed light to answer all these questions.

© Photo: David W. Wheatley

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