Category : Articles

Sub Category : World

Cultural Anthropology of the Deceased:
    A different view, a different way of thinking about the events of the past. 
   Specifically those events that were directly connected to the dead, the deceased human population from around the world.   
   How each culture appropriated different methods of dealing with the problem.
Geographical and cultural influence, took a backseat to necessity and practical application.....
  Some People believe that ancient civilizations were savages. 
For example the Aztec, Mayan, ancient Arabian,  Serbian, and  Asian people.
   But I think these people acted logically.
In. Any sense of the word.
Keeping in perspective, the time period(s) geographical locations and culture...
Their geography would have determined the availability of certain things. Like metals for making weapons, building material etc...
When one looks the great monumental structures, temples, & pyramids.         Historically we are taught they were places of horrible carnage,  Human sacrifices and bloodshed. 
   Where innocent captives were held in bandage until the time of their execution.   
When they were sacrificed to the gods". The snake God, 
the mountain lion, /dragon, the gods of War / rain and other dieties..
  Yes,  there are throughout history examples of human sacrifice.
 It is a reoccurring theme in the Bible and in  others scripture and lore. These sacrifices were deemed necessary by God and carried out by his people.

     But let's think about it for a minute!
If you were living in the rainforest,  or jungle or the desserts of Arabia and something occurred that had people dying at an very high rate, flood, famine,, disease,, war...
  what would that have been like??!
In the dessert it's nearly impossible to dig deep  into the hot sand.  SoThey built sarcophagus wich over time were covered over by the blowing sands.
   In the rainforest bodies would only float to the surface if buried. Leaving the bodies exposed rotting and putrid. Possibly even diseased.  Spreading sickness by way of wildlife and leeching into waterways and soils.
  They could have taken the dead far far away, or burned them . Neither of wich is reasonable or practical. How do you burn  something already wet in the  pouring rain?!

Then we consider the properties of a dead body. 
A human corpse would be full of blood. Possibly diseased, putrifying and the stench.!!..the maggots and flies would have been unbearable, not to mention un sanitairy..so..do you just let the dead pile up around you?? 
No!!   
what do you do?!
  Firstly you would  need to drain the blood.  But don't do it where it can Pool up and become putrid, NO!
  GO  high up onto a stone platform. One that won't absorb the blood. 
Then what?
 Then remove the organ that pumps the blood... The Heart...
  Next  sever the head and allow the body to drain. 
 It made practical sense! They weren't being evil, they were dealing with a situation that is a part of life. Wich is death.
Preforming this process while the sun faced the alter would insure that the blood dried and baked onto the stone, no longer able to infect the ground or transmit disease. 
The people who would "discover' the temples  and kill the remaining inhabitants would not even try to  contemplate this.
  Even the  local tribes people just went along with what it looked like. It became ritual,  out of the need for the practical application of said ritual. 
  Then the emptied bodies would be stacked in a field to dry until they could be burned in large funeral pyres.(fires)
 The heads would be collected and kept separate. 
   If you consider the human skull you realize that the dome shape and cranial ridge give the structure alot of strength.   These would be incorporated into the building and construction of new temples and other large ceremonial places. 
Places used for ritual and commemoration. 
The dead would now and forever be watching over and strengthening.       Fortifying the temples of the tribes they were  a part of in life...
You see..??? !!!???
  Practical application!
Made into mysticism and lore by way of spiritual addition...
 Yes the sun shone on the temple, 
yes they removed the hearts and heads of many people,&warriors. 
 And the priests who preformed the rituals were what?
 They were the doctors,  medicine men who knew all about why . 
But didn't need to try and explain it to the people who could not readily understand it. 
So they did the figuring, the thinking and they did what needed to be done.  The people trusted them, and followed without question.
CHAPTER TWO:
The ancient Chineese had a different problem. They were up against Atillah the Hunn. 
Who was quite possibly the single most successful and savage warrior ever to live. 
His warriors conquered plundered and pillaged many empires. Taking the lives of perhaps millions of people in the process.
The chineese were up against an impossible fight... so they decided to build a wall.
 One that would keep out the invading Huns. 
serving as shelter and a lookout for the chineese soldiers. 
  But there were so many dead bodies!!
No time, or manpower to dig Graves for them all !!.
They had to get a wall built. Strong and fast!!
The solution was to use the bodies of the fallen as building material..
Draining the blood and mixing it with rice flour. Rice gluten and sand to make mortar. A glue that is some of the most enduring time tested construction on the planet.!
 They would then pile the dead bodies building them into the wall like stones. The result was the GREAT WALL OF CHINA that we still see today.!!
 The longest largest manmade structure on earth.
It is the only man made structure visible to the naked eye from outer space.
Some of the stones have been replaced , weather worn away. But the Blood and rice mixture is still intact,surviving even where the rock has long sience eroded ...you see? practical use.!
 Now skip ahead several hundred even thousand years and you have the instance of people committing infanticide....
Murder of unborn babies. We call it abortion. But imagine what it would look like to someone from the distant past!!!?
 A place where medicine men strapped wemon to alters, with legs spread,  Their babies removed from them and killed. Wouldnt that be terryfying??!
Especially if you had never been exposed to such a concept..
 It was only a couple of years ago that they banned the practice of using aborted fetuses, amputated limbs and other bio waste to heat federal and state buildings.
Not just in the United States but around the globe they have burned these fetuses and other medical waste in incinerators under the federal and state buildings for heat.
Just another example of the practical albeit disturbing use of bio waste...
So who are the real savages?
History speaks for itself. The dead tell a story in their own right.
If people would only listen.. instead of making their own conclusion and conentations to suit whatever outcome they are desiring...at the time.
  Just like the ancient villagers who practiced going to the temple to view the ritual of sacrifice to the God's.
 They just believed what they saw.
Taking what they witnessed at face value. 
Not considering or having any reason to know the practical details.
That is what good leaders do.
 They take care of knowing the difficult truths so  that the regular population can live.
 Enjoy their lives.
  Never having to know that they were poor.   Or destitute, or in danger of extinction.
 They could just be happy and live.
 Wich in the end is what life is all about.
Isn't it???
 The joy of living it!!:)
......................this has been thoughts by Leah veach...(LULU):)2023