Ian’s Reviews > Warfare in Neolithic Europe: An Archaeological and Anthropological Analysis > Status Update

No fun facts? Aw.

Berengaria wrote: "No fun facts? Aw."

Hmm. I'm not really in the habit of doing updates - I usually just do reviews. Anyway, I'm not averse to doing requests -lol.

The author mentions that the skeletal remains of the victims of prehistoric warfare are sometimes missing body parts, which might be attributed to the tendency of victorious warriors to take body parts, especially skulls, as trophies. This is something that has been observed on a worldwide basis, and the author quotes a particular example from the Pacific:

Even more extreme levels of trophy taking were reached in Tahiti, where victorious warriors made trophy ‘ponchos’ out of the corpses of their enemies by pounding them flat with their heavy war clubs and by then cutting slits in these flattened skins.

The following isn't in the book, but the above reference reminded me of something I read years back about the Scottish independence fighter William Wallace, after his victory at the Battle of Stirling Bridge in 1296. One of the English casualties was a man called Hugh de Cressingham, who was Edward I's treasurer in Scotland. According to legend Wallace had de Cressingham's body flayed and made a belt for himself out of the skin. Somehow I seem to have missed that bit when I watched Braveheart. 😄

Ian wrote: " Hmm. I'm not really in the habit of doing updates - I usually just do reviews. Anyway, I'm not averse to doing requests -lol."

Thank you for doing a request! Yep, the taking of trophies is pretty universal, but the poncho thing must have been really messy if the blood/internal organs were still inside.

As you've probably read, there were some Vikings who had ornate drinking cups made out of the skulls of a particularly fierce enemy -- esp if he knew the guy. Gives the Shakespearian "Alas, I knew him well" a really macabre twist. Cheers!