Here’s what you’ll learn when you read this story:
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During excavations at the ancient fort of La Loma in the north of the Iberian Peninsula, archaeologists found the destroyed remains of a skull.
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Genetic analysis shows that the skull was male and originally from a region in northern Spain where Celtic warriors known as the Cantabrians lived.
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The age of the skull places it around the time of the Cantabrian Wars, when the Romans conquered the Cantabrians and displayed the head of this unfortunate victim as a trophy.
May be game of thrones it’s not exactly the best reflection of history, but there is some truth to that macabre scene where (spoiler alert) Ned Stark’s severed head was impaled on a pike and displayed outside the gates of King’s Landing. Apparently the ancient Romans did the same thing to the heads of their enemies.
This was not out of the norm for Roman legions. They were known to display severed heads, hands, feet, and even whole corpses to the elements and onlookers as an intimidation tactic that may have doubled as a public stage of victory. Rome fought relentlessly with the formidable Celtic warriors known as the Cantabrians, towards the end of the 1st century BC, with an eye on capturing the Iberian Peninsula, they pursued the Cantabrians, who lived in what is now northern Spain, in a series of conflicts known as the Cantabrian Wars. In the fortress of La Loma, the Romans finally conquered them – and left a gruesome memory.
Excavations at the crumbling fort revealed a lone skull lying within the walls that had long since collapsed at the hands of the Roman army under Emperor Augustus. He was already aware of the complaints about the Cantabrians from various ethic groups within the empire, and this was all the fuel he needed to wage war against them so he could reclaim the Iberian Peninsula. Unlike the fictional Ned Stark mentioned above, the boss of this unfortunate victim remains nameless. Although there is no evidence that it was raised on a pike, it was displayed above the wall as a grisly reminder of what would happen if someone else tried to topple the Romans.
“His intention was to complete the conquest of the Iberian Peninsula by defeating the last two Celtic nations to remain outside the control of Rome in western continental Europe,” archaeologist Santiago Domínguez-Solera, director of Heroica Archeology and Cultural Heritage, said of Augustus in a study recently published in the Journal of Roman Archaeology. “He used some of his best generals, mobilized many of his legions, and made enormous investments of time, materials, and human lives in this effort.”
Domínguez-Solera, who led a team of researchers excavating the La Loma site, discovered the skull among ruins covered in ash from a Roman fire and filled with arrowheads, bladed weapons, jewelry and armor fragments. He believes that the cuts and bruises on many of these pieces are possible evidence of bloody hand-to-hand combat. The skull was not found in one piece. What remained of it was scattered, possibly broken when it fell from the collapsed fortress walls and then crushed by them. When these pieces were brought back to the lab and dated, the age of the skull aligned with the siege of La Loma during the Cantabrian Wars. Some of the missing parts include the mandible.
Without a name or anything close to identifying information, the only way the skull could speak was through physical and genetic analysis. Bone fragmentation made it difficult to determine an age or gender from the physical remains alone. An evaluation of the skull came up with an age range of 32 to 58 years. It also became more apparent that the skull was left out when the researchers examined weathering damage to the bone, such as cracking, flaking, splitting and bleaching. Fortunately, his DNA was more intact. Because the skull had preserved 53% of its DNA, it was possible to recover its entire mitochondrial genome.
Genetic evidence said more than any physical characteristic could. The sex of this individual was determined to be male based on the ratio of the X and Y chromosomes. His ancestry falls within the ancient peoples of the Iberian Peninsula, as evidenced by haplogroups that are associated with the area, including a haplogroup on his paternal side that dates back to the early Bronze Age and is still indigenous to the Basque region of the Iberian Peninsula. Further genetic analysis placed him in northern Spain, alongside other ancient individuals from Iron Age populations.
But genetic analysis alone could not answer a pressing question: Why did he meet such a gruesome end?
“The symbolism of the military trophy materialized not only in the display of weapons taken from defeated enemies, but also in acts of violence,” said Domínguez-Solera. “In Roman contexts, these punitive acts may have been part of intimidation strategies rather than ritual practices related to victory or recognition of the bravery of enemies as a form of warrior prestige.”
Capete still haunts Roman history. The Egyptians who killed Pompey the Great on the orders of Pharaoh Ptolemy presented his head and ring to Caesar. After Cicero was executed for being an enemy of the state due to his rivalry with Mark Antony, his dismembered head and hands were displayed. The shattered skull found at La Loma may still hold a few secrets, but what was once a trophy is now a reminder that if anyone tried to stand up to one of the world’s most powerful empires, heads would literally roll.
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