Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs revealed the tradition of soldiers presenting severed right hands of the enemy in exchange for gold, and now, archaeologists excavating a palace in the ancient city of Avaris have confirmed the myth with this gruesome discovery:
The archaeologists have unearthed the skeletons of 16 human hands buried in four pits. Two of the pits, located in front of what is believed to be a throne room, hold one hand each. Two other pits, constructed at a slightly later time in an outer space of the palace, contain the 14 remaining hands.
They are all right hands; there are no lefts.
Owen Jarus of LiveScience has the story: Link (Photo: Axel Krause)
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Sometimes the Egyptians let prisoners of war keep their hands, but took something more precious.
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