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Many prehistoric handprints show a finger missing. Canadian scientists say evidence shows digits may have been ritually removed to appease deities or aid social cohesion.
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- Title
- Many prehistoric handprints show a finger missing. What if this was not accidental?
- Authors
- Robin McKie
- Published
- Dec 23 2023
- Word count
- 776 words
The article really didn't go into what evidence they found other than "other humans do it". The headline says to appease deities and then that wasn't mentioned again. I kinda don't like how any time there's things we don't understand we default to thinking past peoples were stupidly religious. The Dani people do it for rememberance. The last paragraph talked about body mods for self expression. did I miss a chunk about mysticism?
Couldn't it have been cave man deep fake? Like, they found a way to stencil in such a way that it looks like digits are missing when in fact the hand is fine? That it was an artistic technique? "Look ma no fingers?"
Life was also harder. It was probably pretty easy to lose a finger when you're hunting, gutting, cutting, and cooking every single meal. Nevermind building, warring, etc.
The article mentioned that's what the prevailing thought is, that folks lost fingers to accidents and frostbite. but this new research thinks not, that it was deliberate body modification
I mean, I suppose it's possible. Modern cultures have done it. I just struggle to understand it. It seems like an awfully big handicap for a time when survival was an every day struggle.
You know, I am wondering if it actually is. If you're not doing fine detailed work you can do a lot without a finger or two especially a finger tip.
I majored in Archaeology and when we were in the field the running gag was anything that was unidentifiable became a "ritual object". It's well known in the field that it's pretty much a placeholder for "we don't know why."
I can't really see it being an artistic technique except maybe to emulate someone else's disfigurement. Even then nah.
Maybe the people with messed up hands would be more likely to make the hand wall art. It could have cultural or mystical importance like the article suggests, or it could just show a defining/recognizable feature of that person. Kind of like monikers
I came in with similar skepticism about the claim but I also acknowledge I'm not reading anyone's dissertation about the subject. So it doesn't make a bunch of sense for me to be judgy from a regular news article when they're the experts on the subject. They seem to believe at least that they have more than "could be religious reasons."
I will say that it doesn't always make sense to separate mysticism and other aspects of culture - remembrance is the sort of thing humans do a lot of mystical and ritualistic things for, for example.
But if someone wants to dig up the research I have campus library digital access and am happy to share along.
Could they not have been cutting off fingers to stop the spread of infections? I feel like these theories take a lot of modern hygiene practices for granted. Imagine an infected cuticle in a time when there is no sanitized water or antibiotics.
Another article about paronychia states:
Perhaps the pain and infected appearance of a nail or cuticle, especially if the pain and infection was spreading, warranted the risk of cutting off a finger. Just a thought.
Interesting hypothesis, but wouldn't an infection be as likely from cutting ones finger off?
Yeah, my thought was that if one is having chronic pain and swelling from an infected finger and it was only getting worse, perhaps they would be willing to risk cutting off the finger. Especially if others in the tribe had witnessed a finger infection spread and get worse when nothing was done, possibly killing the infected. So it'd be like "which risk does one want to take?"
My other hypothesis is frostbite.
I get that, like I said in my initial post, I have a. Lot of initial skepticism, but I'm also trying not to play "well duh, it's frostbite" when the researchers say they think it isn't injury and frostbite and I'm unlikely to read their whole dissertation on the topic. It's bad reporting for not giving us more information but I feel a bit silly acting like I know jack about anthropology at that level.
Deep in a cave in the Yucatán, the Mayan guide asked everyone, “You know why these handprints have four fingers?”
We all offered various theories like you see in this thread.
The guide shook his head. “No. Aliens.”
Could the sonic hedgehog gene have been weaker in the past? Are the missing digits consistent in which digit was missing?