The Weirdest Things Ancient Humans Actually Did
In a Nutshell
Ancient humans practiced deliberate rituals including cannibalism, skull cup crafting, and eagle claw jewelry making that served social and identity purposes rather than survival needs. They performed skull surgery (trepanation) with high survival rates, created body paint mixtures 100,000 years ago, and removed healthy teeth as coming-of-age markers across communities. These practices show sophisticated cultural traditions emerging independently across continents, with bodies kept at home for extended mourning periods.
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About 15,000 years ago in a cave in what is now England, a group of people ate their dead. They turned the skulls into drinking cups and carved patterns into the leftover arm bones. Human bones were found mixed with animal bones at Gough's Cave in Cheddar Gorge, Somerset, England. Both sets of bones had been treated exactly the same way, with cut marks where meat had been sliced off, bones cracked open to extract marrow, and human tooth marks pressed into human bone. Three human skulls had been carefully turned into bowls. Researcher Sylvia Bello from the Natural History Museum in London described how the skull was stripped of flesh, the bottom was removed, and the edges were smoothed and shaped neatly. The people had plenty of animal meat at the site and were not starving, indicating this was deliberate ritual behavior rather than necessity. They also carved zigzag patterns into the arm bones of the same people they had eaten.
In 1899, a scientist digging at a Neanderthal site near Krapina, Croatia found hundreds of Neanderthal bones and thousands of stone tools mixed with eight eagle claws from at least three different birds. The claws remained unstudied for over a hundred years until 2013, when museum curator Davorka Radovčić noticed tiny cut marks on them. Published in 2015, the research showed the claws had been cut, polished, and shaped to be strung together as a necklace or bracelet. These claws are 130,000 years old, dating to 80,000 years before modern humans arrived in Europe. Neanderthals independently developed this practice of hunting eagles and wearing their claws as jewelry, representing a statement about identity and achievement.
Trepanation, cutting a hole through a living person's skull, represents the oldest surgery found in the archaeological record, dating back at least 8,000 years. Skulls with these holes have been found across Europe, South America, China, Africa, and the Pacific Islands in completely separate cultures with no contact between them. The holes were made with stone tools slowly scraped through bone while the person was conscious or partially sedated. Many skulls show healed bone around the holes, indicating patients survived and lived for years afterward. One skull from Peru had seven separate holes drilled at different times, all showing healing. Some holes were drilled to relieve pressure after head injuries, while others were placed in areas with no injury, suggesting spiritual purposes.
For at least 100,000 years, ancient humans mixed red mineral powder called ochre with animal fat, bone marrow, and grease, then rubbed it over their bodies. Archaeologists found the complete setup for making this mixture at Blombos Cave in South Africa, dated to around 100,000 years ago, including grinding stones, storage containers, and finished product. Researcher Christopher Henshilwood described it as the oldest known chemistry workshop. The mixture served multiple functions simultaneously: blocking UV rays, repelling insects, waterproofing animal skin clothing, and carrying social and spiritual meaning through different colors and patterns.
At multiple sites across Europe dating back about 14,000 years, archaeologists have found human skeletons with specific healthy teeth deliberately removed in consistent patterns across many different people at the same sites. Researcher Isabelle Crevecoeur, who studied these remains, believes the tooth removal marked the transition from childhood to adulthood. Everyone in the community had the same missing teeth in the same positions, making this the normal appearance rather than damage or injury.
In many ancient cultures, when someone died, the body remained in the house for days, weeks, or months rather than being removed immediately. The Toraja people of Indonesia continue this tradition today, keeping deceased family members at home and including them in daily life until proper burial ceremonies can be arranged. Similar practices appear in ancient cultures across multiple continents. Without hospitals or funeral homes, people processed death gradually while the body remained present, sitting with it in community with others who also loved the deceased.
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