Young Woman with Cone-Shaped Skull Suffered Fatal Blow 6,000 Years Ago

CHEGA SOFLA, IRAN—Science News Today reports that archaeologists excavating a Copper Age cemetery in western Iran recently noticed the unusual skull of a young woman among the burials. Her elongated and cone-shaped cranium clearly indicated that when she was younger, she had undergone some type of skull modification, a process that usually involves the binding of a child’s head with cloth during their formative years. The report notes that for many cultures across the globe, from the Central American Maya to the Huns of Eurasia, cranial shaping was a symbol of beauty, status, or identity. In this case, the researchers believe, it may have marked the girl as someone of significance 6,200 years ago. Upon further examination, however, they also noticed a skull fracture indicating that the young girl, who was not yet 20, had suffered a devastating blunt force blow to the head that certainly killed her. They suggest that although her skull bones were thinner and weaker as a result of the modification process, the head trauma was so severe that it would have killed her even if she had never been subject to the procedure. It is still unclear whether she was deliberately murdered or suffered some kind of accident. To read about the practice of children's cranial modification along the Peruvian coast a millennium ago, go to "Peru's Great Urban Experiment."