Horrific secret behind the egg-shaped ‘alien’ skulls found in Eastern Europe finally revealed after 1,500-years
Scientists at Germany’s National Academy of Sciences have discovered the bizarre 'cone-shaped skulls' belonged to tortured brides
THE horrific secret behind “alien” skulls found in Eastern Europe has finally been revealed after 1,500 years.
Scientists at Germany’s National Academy of Sciences have discovered the bizarre “cone-shaped skulls” belonged to tortured brides.
It is believed the women's heads were wrapped in early childhood to transform the skull into an egg shape.
Body modification was once seen as a sign of beauty and nobility, according to the findings published in .
The report said: “Artificial cranial deformation, which is only possible during early childhood, is a deliberate and permanent shaping of the head performed with great effort.
“In some societies reshaping the human skull has been seen as an ideal of beauty, while it may also have acted as a marker of status, nobility, or affliction to a certain class or group.”
To solve the mystery, the researchers in the new study looked at the DNA of 36 adults — 14 who had egg-shaped skulls — from six Bavarian cemeteries.
They also looked at the DNA of a local Roman soldier and two medieval women from Crimea and Serbia, where the mysterious women may have originated.
The women with pointy skulls were genetically very different from the other Baiuvarii, the researchers found.
The men and women with normal skulls, with the exception of two individuals, had similar ancestry traced to northern and central Europe, the researchers said.
In contrast, the women with deformed skulls largely hailed from southern and southeastern Europe.
At least one of the women had East Asian ancestry.
The findings were published after experts carried out tests on a mysterious three-fingered mummy from Peru.
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A mystery skeleton, dubbed Maria, was unearthed in a tomb near the Nazca lines in Peru last year.
Russian geneticists have found that Maria is a “humanoid being", meaning she has 23 chromosomes like us”.
Another tiny skeleton of a creature aged around nine months, thought to be Maria's daughter, was found nearby and named Vavita.
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