A skull cup is a drinking vessel or eating bowl made from an inverted human calvaria that has been cut away from the rest of the skull. The use of a human skull as a drinking cup in ritual use or as a trophy is reported in numerous sources throughout history and among various peoples, and among Western cultures is most often associated with the historically nomadic cultures of the Eurasian Steppe.
The oldest directly dated skull cup[1] at 14,700 cal BP (12,750 BC) comes from Gough's Cave, Somerset, England. Skulls used as containers can be distinguished from plain skulls by exhibiting cut-marks from flesh removal and working to produce a regular lip.[2]
^Bello, Silvia M.; Simon A. Parfitt; Chris B. Stringer (February 2011). Petraglia, Michael (ed.). "Earliest Directly-Dated Human Skull-Cups". PLOS ONE. 6 (2). Public Library of Science: e17026. Bibcode:2011PLoSO...617026B. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0017026. PMC 3040189. PMID 21359211.
^Skulls found in Cheddar Gorge 'used as cups' (web video). BBC. 16 February 2011.
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lived in central India during the Middle and Late Pleistocene. From a skullcup discovered from the bank of Narmada River in Madhya Pradesh in 1982, the...
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the skull of Nicephorus in silver, and used it as a cup for drinking. This is one of the most documented instances of the custom of the skullcup. The...
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Decapitation Skullcup Human sacrifice Human trophy collecting Macheteros de Jara Laulasi Island Beheading in Islam Headless Horseman Plastered human skulls Crypteia...
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Mahākāla with one head and two arms, holding a sword in his right hand and a skullcup (kapāla) in his left. He is sometimes also shown as trampling on the elephant-headed...
four arms and four legs adorned with symbols of vajra, sword, lasso and skullcup (kapala) and trampling over demons; Mahachakra-Vajrapani is a form with...
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