A 1,000-year-old cranium cracked by a sword and desiccated bones of the palm of a proper hand just lately found by a group of Israeli researchers within the Jerusalem Hills are the earliest evidence of ritual blood vengeance on the earth.
According to the multi-disciplinary group, the vendetta was carried out within the 10th-11th centuries CE by the Bedouin residents of the area.
At the 44th Archaeological Congress at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev on Thursday, a multi-disciplinary group of researchers from the Israel Antiquities Authority, Bar-Ilan University and Tel Aviv University will current their joint research and tie the traditional bones to the skeletal morphology of native Bedouin residents of Israel at this time.
Under the definition for “vendetta” found within the 2015 “Historical Dictionary of the Bedouins,” writer Muhammad Suwaed writes, “Blood vengeance is considered an ancient custom — the roots of which come from the pre-Islamic period.”
Suwaed describes the custom of vendetta, or Al-Tar, as one of probably the most distinguished customs of the Bedouin and writes, “They do not give up blood vengeance until the last day of their human lives.”
Murder of Ma’sum Beg, the envoy of the Safavid Shah Tahmasp, by Beduins within the Hejaz, 16th century (public area, through wikipedia)
The cave’s grotesque archaeological evidence exhibits this wasn’t the 25-40-year-old male’s first rodeo. His cranium exhibits not less than two events of near-lethal sword combating.
According to the researchers, “The skull cap shows signs of two traumatic injuries that eventually healed — evidence of previous violence experienced by the victim — as well as a small cut-mark caused close to the time of death, and a blow by a sword that caused certain and immediate death.”
These findings are according to Suwaed’s description of the tenacity of the Bedouin avenger, who could also be on the path of his victim for as much as 40 years.
“Blood vengeance with the Bedouins is absolute and they have to avenge in order to get back their honor and the trust of their tribe’s members… The vengeance comes for settling scores and for creation of balance. Moreover the Bedouin balance states ‘A grave versus a grave,'” writes Suwaed.
An IAA press launch on the skeletal evidence refers to an early 20th century textual content portraying a blood vengeance case by which the avenger offered his household with the cranium and proper hand of his victim — “precisely the parts of the body that were discovered in the present case.”
The cracks within the cranium, the primary evidence of blood vengeance, which was found in a cave within the Jerusalem Hills. (Clara Amit/ Israel Antiquities Authority)
According to a video of IAA anthropologist Dr. Yossi Nagar, the Bedouin, who got here from Jordan and northern Arabia, had been the only inhabitants of the Jerusalem Hills at the moment. Likewise, the group’s morphological examination of the cranium “shows a great resemblance to the local Bedouin population.”
The cave’s skeletal stays had been found throughout an archaeological survey performed by Prof. Boaz Zissu, of the Martin (Szusz) Department of Land of Israel Studies and Archaeology at Bar-Ilan University, and recognized by IAA’s Nagar and Dr. Haim Cohen, of the National Center for Forensic Medicine and Tel Aviv University.
Researchers who're finding out the primary evidence of blood vengeance, found in a cave within the Jerusalem Hills. From left to proper: Prof. Boaz Zissu Dr. Yossi Nagar and Dr. Haim Cohen with the cranium (Chen Galili/Israel Antiquities Authority)