In Images: The Mutilated Skeletons of Lapa do Santo

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Bone fragments

Bone artifacts excavate at Lapa do Santo , a cave in central Brazil with some of the oldest grounds of human occupation in South America

Skull with teeth removed

Here , a skull from the situation present evidence of tooth remotion .

Burial pit

This fossa was first excavated in 2009 . Over the retiring several twelvemonth , scientists have learned more about the rituals that ancient mass in the region used to share with the dead .

Fragments

Here , a skull peek out of the rock ‘n’ roll at burial 16 of Lapa do Santo .

Damaged Mandible

This damage , 8,500 - year - old lower jaw shows grounds of taxonomic mutilation , with the teeth removed .

Fish hook

Lapa do Santo was n’t just a burial site , however ; it also nurse many other archeological clay , such as this fish hook .

Excavating the site

Lisi Muller exhumes a burying at Lapa do Santo in 2016 .

Hematite axe

A hematite axe was amongst the artifacts unearth at Lapa do Santo . The web site has thousands of year of evidence of human inhabitation , including human burying , solid food remains and I. F. Stone instrument .

bone artifacts

lapa do santo skull

burial 27 which was exhumed in 2009

burial 16

fish hook from Lapa do Santo

lapa do santo excavation

hematite axe from Lapa do Santo

Fragment of a skull with white arrows showing where it was cut

Side view of a human skeleton on a grey table. There is a large corroded iron spike running from the forehead through to the base of the skull.

A human skull stares at the viewer. It is wrapped in thick cords and covered in an ancient textile. Its jaws hang open.

Against the background of a greenish and red rock are two images: one of a human skeleton emerging from the dirt and one of archaeologists in hard hats excavating it

A white woman with blonde hair in a ponytail looks at a human skull on a table

Here we see a reconstruction of our human relative Homo naledi, which has a wider nose and larger brow than humans.

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This squat lobster seems to be the star of the Endurance shipwreck.

The taffrail and ship’s wheel.

This skull from Peru has a metal implant. If it is authentic then it would be a potentially unique find from the ancient Andes.

Weapons found in two castles in Japan could be ninja weapons, with some of the weapons possibly being the forerunners to the throwing star. Here, a hand-colored illustration of mid-18th century Japan and two ninjas.

Archaeologists found more than 20 Terracotta Warriors in one of the pits around the tomb of the 1st emperor of China. One of those pits is shown here.