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Modified Sheep Skulls From 3700 BC Found In Egypt's Mortuary Complex
Intentionally modified sheep skulls, gauged by the deliberate deformities, have been uncovered at the ancient mortuary complex in Hierakonpolis, Upper Egypt, dating to about 3,700 BC. Numbering 6 in total, these large, castrated male sheep were found with horns not oriented in the natural direction, i.e., laterally. In some cases, the horns were found to be removed completely, a practice that continues in most parts of the world even today, a practice now traced to ancient Egypt.
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Led by Belgium researcher Wim Van Neer, the finds have been published in the latest edition of The Journal of Archaeological Science.
“The sheep were deliberately made ‘special’ by castration. In addition, their horns were directed upward, and in one case, the horns were removed,” provided Van Neer at the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences.
“The horns had been intentionally manipulated to grow upwards and in three cases this resulted in upright, parallel horns… the Hierakonpolis sheep provide the oldest evidence for horn modification of livestock, and the first demonstration of the practice applied to sheep,” researchers noted in the study.
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