Reincarnation of Forms

The philosophy of forms reached its ultimate development under the Greek Philosopher Plato (427 – 348 BCE) who based it on earlier ancient Druid traditions that are exhibited throughout their runic texts. Chart from https://www.slideserve.com/mariel/plato-s-theory-of-forms

Forms Were A Key Metaphysical Concept of Ancient Times

(May 27, 2024) According to the ancients, invisible forms are what define the shape and characteristics of things in the material world. Forms are from the spiritual realm and are manifested when amorphous matter (dust) flows into the forms. This is the core idea behind alchemy. If humans could magically control this manifestation then anything could be created.

The ancient Druid civilization imagined life forms as being defined and their manifestations triggered by certain life powers existing above the earth plane (the "high powers"). On earth the opener god (Yahu/Yahweh) opened these forms while the revealer goddess (Asher) gave birth to these forms.

The invention of metal casting was a huge event culturally. Now not only were life forms being formed but also non-life forms. This caused the opener and revealer deities to gain additional powers which is why the mother goddess of Brigid (Celtic goddess equivalent to Asher) also became the goddess of smithing.

Initially reincarnation was only thought to occur for life forms but now reincarnation could occur for any form. To insure this reincarnation, honored and valued forms were ritually destroyed so they could be reborn somewhere else. (Hence ritually broken swords are found thown into marshes)

Google map showing location of Herxheim, Germany.

Ritual Destruction of Honored Life Forms in Herxheim (LBK period: 5600-4250 BCE)

(May 27, 2024) An extreme example of life-form destruction of a region's most loved people was found in the southern German Rhine Valley of Germany near Herxheim.

Interpreting the finds here has been controversial. Many think the human form destruction indicates cannibalism. While this could have occurred near the end of this settlement's life when it was experiencing food shortages due to a drought, this sort of human form destruction occurred throughout the town's lifetime. Additionally, other forms were also destroyed.

Another hypothesis put forward is that this was the ritual sacrifice to the gods of their enemies which they fought throughout their existence. Yet no evidence exists that they had such a warrior culture. Weapon and armor remains are almost non-existent. Enclosures to not seem to be defensive stockades protecting against human attack.

Therefore the only possibility left is form destruction, albeit, on an extreme scale.

References

Andrea Zeeb-Lanz (2019) The Herxheim ritual enclosure, a synthesis of results and interpretative approaches in Ritualised Destruction in the Early Neolithic – The Exceptional Site of Herxheim (Palatinate, Germany) Volume 2. GENERALDIREKTION KULTURELLES ERBE , DIREKTION LANDESARCHÄOLOGIE, AUSSENSTELLE SPEYER, SPEYEROnline at: https://www.academia.edu/42674795/The_Herxheim_ritual_enclosure_a_synthesis_of_results_and_interpretative_approaches

Neolithic Settlement Locations Along the Southern German Rhine

(May 27, 2024) Like most permanent Neolithic towns these were located on high spots surrounded by marshy land which was occasionally flooded by spring runoff from the hills. This flooding kept the land fertile. These settlements lasted throughout the LBK period (5600-4250 BCE) after which they were abandoned due to a severe drought.

Pottery Form Destruction

After human remains, pottery is the second largest group of finds in the non-enclosure ditches. They exhibit these characteristics:

The pottery was of high quality in regards to the shape and decoration.
The pottery fragments all show fresh and unweathered edges allowing them to be reconstructed.
Chronologically speaking, the pottery is very homogeneous and can all be dated to the latest phase of the LBK’s stylistic development (phase V)
While roughly half of the decorated pottery can be attributed to the Palatinate style, over 25 % of the vessels are decorated with ornaments and techniques from other regions showing they are valued imports. This was confirmed after doing a mineral analysis on 44 sherds with different artistic styles. The results clearly show that these were not made using local clays.

Stone Tool Form Destruction

The stone materials were divided into chipped stone tools and flakes, artificially modified pieces and stone axes/adzes, as well as sandstone querns and other stone fragments and those colored in red ochre (haematite) which is the ritual color of the life powers. Overall, the tool composition at Herxheim corresponds to that of a “normal” LBK settlement.
However, among the chipped stone, there is an exceptionally high number of splintered pieces made from destroying the original tool. Most of these were the imported, high value blades used on sickles. Many of these splinters still showed traces of sickle gloss. The splintered pieces make up 60 % of all chipped stone blades. These artefacts could no longer have been used as tools, but what is particularly notable is that the raw material of these destroyed tools is overwhelmingly precious Cretaceous flint from either the Hesbaye (Belgium) or the Limburg region (Netherlands). All sources of these high-quality raw materials are more than 200 km away from Herxheim.
Polished stone adzes from concentrations in the inner ditch also appear to have been deliberately destroyed. Alongside damage to the blade and butt, which could easily have been suffered during the use life of the tools, there are breaks and impact traces which can only have been caused by a violent manipulation of the adzes. The flakes and splintered pieces occur in such high numbers that the archaeologists concluded that they must have been intentionally destroyed.

Reference

Herxheim Neolithic Settlements Along Its Small Rhine Tributary

(May 27, 2024) All of these settlements had enclosure ditches possibly augmented in parts by wooden walls. Wolves and Boars needed to be kept out of villages, or at least slowed down in time for the village's dogs to give warning. Additionally, some, if not most sites, contained short inner ditches which were open for only 20 years at the most in which were buried the form destroyed objects.

The Human and Animal Form Destruction

The skeletal remains of more than 600 human individuals were found at Herxheim. These were of both genders and included neonates/nurslings and children, as well as juveniles and adults. The excess number of juveniles and young adults was even noticed by the excavators. Children under five years of age are distinctly underrepresented. The cause of death could not be established with certainty, Some of the skull calottes (brain cases) do show traces of trauma, but given the clear evidence of healing these were not the cause of death of these individuals.
The bodies were dismembered by having their extremities removed and thevertebral column detached from the back. The skulls wereremoved and the face smashed so they could no longer be recognized.
After dismemberment, the muscle tissue was removed from the bone, a process during which the muscle attachments and sinews were severed with flintknives, leaving corresponding traces. The remaining soft tissue was similarly meticulously scraped from the bones until the latter were completely freed of all perishable remains.
Additionally, many bones were smashed. Impact points and anvil traces onvarious bones show that this destruction was intentional, while V-shaped and spiral fracture patterns, particularly recognizable for long bones, attest to the fact that fragmentation occurred while the bones were fresh (Boulestin/Coupey). Breakage is particularly intensive for the long bones,partly resulting in extremely small fragment sizes. The pelvises were also broken as were hand and foot bones.

Animal Bones From Drought Years

Unrelated to ritual deposits are the animal bones found in the ritual ditches dating to the last years of the settlement. These seem to show the settlement was having crop failures and had to rely more on animal meat. The distribution of animal bone between the ditches, but also in the settlement features, seems completely irregular – while there are areas of the inner ditch lots of animal bones other parts of the same ditch are almost completely devoid of animal remains. The breakage of the animal bones shows the typical pattern of destruction for meat and marrow extractions.
The exception to this is the ritual deposit of a cluster of the jaws of differentspecies of otters (mustelids) , some of which had been carefully broken in half before being deposited close together in an isolated concentration in the inner ditch. Some of the jaws show traces of red ochre. These were not normal food animals. Equally unusual are the remains of large water birds, including fragments of their wing bones.
Near the end Herxheim settlements even started using their dogs as food. Dogs are far more frequent at Herxheim than at any other LBK site investigated so far and make up more than 10 % of the identified specimens from the inner ditch. This is the most extensive assemblage of bones of Canis ever retrieved in the LBK. At least 13 individuals are represented including one puppy and seven immature animals which had not yet reached adulthood. Like the other animals, they show butchery marks in the form of cuts on the bones; however, the traces seem to suggest that the dogs were quartered and then not dismembered further but processed in the form of these rather large cuts.
At the Herxheim sites, the early dominant role of cattle progressively diminishes in favour of pigs, sheep and goats. The importance of animal herding and the systematic exploitation for meat especially of cattle and pigs align Herxheim quite closely with many other LBK settlement sites.