Saturday, January 30, 2016

Factoid of the day

Why did medieval people bury horse skulls below their floors?

Superstition or acoustics?

Instead, Hukantaival says, the skulls were deliberately placed within buildings as “foundation deposits.” Hukantaival is doing her doctoral thesis on foundation deposits, and according to her research, people have been concealing various objects—from everyday household items to DIY counter-magical devices—in buildings for pretty much as long as permanent buildings have been around. At different times and in different places, the meanings of these deposits and the practices surrounding them have changed, but using domestic animals as deposits seems to be a constant, and the horse appears especially often.

More at Atlas Obscura

Headsup The Presurfer

Related item: Often in Africa you place a ceremonial animal in the foundation of your new store to gain good luck from the spirits.

this was the theme of the Movie Dingaka.


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