Monday, April 13, 2009

ARAMAIC INCANTATION SKULLS get some attention in Haaretz:
'Ancient Jews used skulls in ceremonies despite ban'
By Ofri Ilani, Haaretz Correspondent

Tags: israel news, skull

Newly published archaeological evidence attests to the fact that ancient Jews used human skulls in ceremonies, despite a strict Halakhic prohibition on touching human remains.

British researcher Dan Levene from the University of Southampton published findings in Biblical Archaeological Review about the human skulls, known as incantation bowls, some of which bear inscriptions in Aramaic.

[...]
The skulls are comparable in many ways to incantation bowls, but are not themselves bowls.

I have already noted the BAR article here.