Meg's Boneyard

02/11/2026

Keep the normies away!! 😂

12/05/2025

Buy local, support real and stay WEIRD

09/07/2025

07/24/2025

The remains of the shaman of Bad Dürrenberg are an extraordinary archaeological find from Germany, offering a rare and powerful glimpse into the spiritual beliefs and practices of the Mesolithic period. Dating back 8,600 to 9,000 years ago, these are the remains of a 25-35 year old woman, and the accompanying grave goods are particularly significant. 👵🏽

The Burial and the Headdress
Discovered in Bad Dürrenberg, Saxony-Anhalt, Germany, the woman's burial is one of the most richly furnished Mesolithic graves in Central Europe. What truly sets this find apart is the extraordinary headdress that adorned her. It was meticulously crafted from the bones and teeth of various animals, including deer, wild boar, crane, and turtle. Such a composite artifact would have required significant effort to collect the materials and skill to assemble them, indicating its profound importance.

Evidence of a Shamanic Role
The elaborate nature of the headdress, combined with other grave goods (which included flint tools, bone implements, and red ochre pigment), strongly suggests that the woman held a unique and powerful role within her community – that of a shaman or spiritual leader.

Animal Elements: The incorporation of bones and teeth from diverse animals points to a connection with the animal world, which is a common characteristic of shamanic practices across many cultures. Shamans often act as intermediaries between the human and spirit realms, drawing power or guidance from animal spirits.

Ritualistic Significance: The headdress itself would have been a potent ritualistic object, likely worn during ceremonies, healing rituals, or trance states. Its construction from such varied and symbolically rich animal parts would have endowed it with immense power and meaning.

Unique Burial: The distinctiveness and richness of her burial, compared to other contemporaneous graves, further support the interpretation of her special status.

The Bad Dürrenberg shaman provides invaluable direct evidence of complex spiritual systems and specialized roles within early Mesolithic hunter-gatherer societies in Europe, challenging earlier perceptions that such organized spiritual practices were exclusive to later, more settled agricultural communities. Her headdress stands as a tangible symbol of ancient beliefs and the profound connection between humans and the natural world.

07/07/2025

All set up at The Sacred Vortex Teahouse and Kombuchery!!! Thanks to TRASH HAG for sharing a table with me!!! 🦴🎉

07/03/2025

Come visit me this Sunday, June 6 at The Sacred Vortex Teahouse and Kombuchery … lots of new items!!! 🦴✨💎🌟

04/28/2025

The newly described “bone collector” caterpillar species disguises itself with the body parts of dead insects so that it can live among spiders and poach their prey. This is the only caterpillar known to use such grisly camouflage or have spiders as roommates – and it’s a carnivore and a cannibal to boot.

Daniel Rubinoff at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa and his colleagues discovered the caterpillar while hiking the Waianae mountains in Oahu more than two decades ago. They were searching for other species in the same genus, Hyposmocoma, also known as Hawaiian fancy case caterpillars. “We see this little, tiny sac covered in bug bits, and honestly, we weren’t sure what it was,” says Rubinoff. “And then we take it back [to the lab], and we realise there is a little caterpillar in there.”

Find out more: https://www.newscientist.com/article/2477925-bone-collector-caterpillar-wears-dead-insect-body-parts-as-disguise/

Image: Daniel Rubinoff et al. 2025

12/11/2024

a christmas parenting tip. love from your friend Chris (Simpsons artist) xox

11/28/2024