Babies Buried With Helmets of Other Children’s Skulls

[Evo]

Never heard of this practice before. There is a picture at the link.

A team of archaeologists working in Ecuador recently discovered something unexpected. At a funerary site dating to around 100 B.C. they unearthed the remains of two babies that were buried with protective “helmets” made from the skulls of older children.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/mysterious-case-babies-buried-helmets-100233129.html

 

[Greg Bernhardt]

Wow, did not expect to learn about this today! Fascinating!

 

[256bits]

From the picture in the link, is that the teeth of the "baby" , or the teeth of the protective skull.
Probably teeth of the infant, so it (baby) is at least, or could be at least, older than 6 months, with that many teeth - looks like molars are also in. Teething can start as early as 3 months - not sure when it ends.

 

[Evo]

From the picture in the link, is that the teeth of the "baby" , or the teeth of the protective skull.
Probably teeth of the infant, so it (baby) is at least, or could be at least, older than 6 months, with that many teeth - looks like molars are also in. Teething can start as early as 3 months - not sure when it ends.

It is odd, I know the teeth look larger because of the shrinking of the gums, those do look like molars. I'm not that familiar with the inside of the mouth-skeleton, especially of a toddler.

 

[Bystander]

mouth-skeleton, especially of a toddler.

I see four incisors, and one bicuspid/pre-molar; the rest looks like bone fragments, no glossy/enamel finish.