Grave of "gay caveman" found

[Eldritch]

First homosexual caveman found

Archaeologists have unearthed the 5,000-year-old remains of what they believe may have been the world's oldest known gay caveman.



The male body – said to date back to between 2900-2500BC – was discovered buried in a way normally reserved only for women of the Corded Ware culture in the Copper Age.

The skeleton was found in a Prague suburb in the Czech Republic with its head pointing eastwards and surrounded by domestic jugs, rituals only previously seen in female graves.

"From history and ethnology, we know that people from this period took funeral rites very seriously so it is highly unlikely that this positioning was a mistake," said lead archaeologist Kamila Remisova Vesinova.

"Far more likely is that he was a man with a different sexual orientation, homosexual or transsexual," she added.

According to Corded Ware culture which began in the late Stone Age and culminated in the Bronze Age, men were traditionally buried lying on their right side with their heads pointing towards the west, and women on their left sides with their heads pointing towards the east. Both sexes would be put into a crouching position.

The men would be buried alongside weapons, hammers and flint knives as well as several portions of food and drink to accompany them to the other side.

Women would be buried with necklaces made from teeth, pets, and copper earrings, as well as jugs and an egg-shaped pot placed near the feet.

"What we see here doesn't add up to traditional Corded Ware cultural norms. The grave in Terronska Street in Prague 6 is interred on its left side with the head facing the West. An oval, egg-shaped container usually associated with female burials was also found at the feet of the skeleton. None of the objects that usually accompany male burials  such as weapons, stone battle axes and flint knives were found in the grave.

"We believe this is one of the earliest cases of what could be described as a 'transsexual' or 'third gender grave' in the Czech Republic," archaeologist Katerina Semradova told a press conference on Tuesday.

She said that archeologists had uncovered an earlier case dating from the Mesolithic period where a female warrior was buried as a man.

She added that Siberian shamans, or latter-day witch doctors, were also buried in this way but with richer funeral accessories to appropriate to their elevated position in society.

"But this later discovery was neither of those, leading us to believe the man was probably homosexual or transsexual," Semeradova said.

The Corded Ware culture takes its name from the frequent use of decorative cord impressions found its pots and covered much of North, Central and Eastern Europe.

It is also known as a single-grave and battleaxe culture due to separate burials and the Mena s habit of being buried with stone axes.

The Telegraph

[Don Brick]

"Gay Caveman" huh? That would be a great name for a band. But what genre? Any suggestions.

[Wyn]

The male body – said to date back to between 2900-2500BC – was discovered buried in a way normally reserved only for women of the Corded Ware culture in the Copper Age.

Definitive proof that the 'caveman' was 'gay.' What an assumption to make.

[Agrippa]

First homosexual caveman found

Well, that's it, British newspaper must be among the worst and dumbest in the world.

They have one of the best accesses to news from around the world, but what do they make out of it? The headlines in particular seem to be written for morons on a regular basis.

I mean, they talk about Corded Ware people, like they themselves write:

Corded Ware culture in the Copper Age

What the fuck has this to do with a "caveman"? Copper Age!

Caveman alone is pretty stupid, but in this context so misplaced...

Rest of the text is ok though, if ignoring the crappy start.

To the topic as such: Ritual gender changes being recorded in various cultures, as were Eunuchs and the like.

So what exactly we deal with here is unsure, but "homosexual" is not precise in any case, because a normal "homosexual" wouldn't be buried like a woman in my opinion. So it must be something transsexual or ritual rather...

Usually even small boys got their usual male inventar, weapons they never used, so this is really an extraordinary case.

[heathen_son]

Interesting, but a rather tenuous conclusion.

[Peasant]

Could have been a way of 'humiliating' the dead man? Or maybe a hermaphrodite?

[Agrippa]

Could have been a way of 'humiliating' the dead man? Or maybe a hermaphrodite?

Sounds like an option to me. But it would be strange, for such an humiliation, to have such an effort.

Most of the time, it was considered humiliating enough to just dump the body without any rituals it seems. So I guess they wanted to do something positive for the deceased rather, unless they find a proof for an execution or the like, what they didn't I guess.

Some sort of special case treatment in any case and probably really related to the sexual orientation/identity or role in the group in general.

[Eldritch]

Could have been a way of 'humiliating' the dead man? Or maybe a hermaphrodite?

Unlikely, since afaIk the association of females being somehow inferior was imported from the Middle East much after this person had died.

I agree it's a bit of long shot. But to be fair the archeological team was simply speculating, and the press then hammed it up.

[Bloodeagle]

Does anyone know what the significance of the burial positions between the sexes might mean, facing East for the women and West for the men?

[Svanhild]

There's no evidence for him being gay. What a ridiculous conclusion! Let's hope the dead one will walk the earth again and kill those dickheads involved.