Evidence of Historical Zombie Attack at Hierakonpolis

sertsa writes "A tongue-in-cheek article just published by the Archaeological Institute of America hypothesizes that the formation of ancient Egypt is linked to recurrent Predynastic zombie attacks due to outbreaks of Solanum virus. 'From the very beginning of Predynastic research, Sir W.M. Flinders Petrie reported several headless, but seemingly intact, burials during his famous excavations at Naqada in 1895. Further excavations at Gerzeh and other sites revealed more of these curious burials, but no satisfactory explanation could be proposed at the time. More recently, excavations in the non-elite cemetery at Hierakonpolis (HK43), undertaken from 1996 to 2004, have uncovered more of these strange headless burials in addition to 21 individuals whose cervical vertebrae bear cut marks indicative of complete decapitation. The individuals include men and women ranging in age from 16 to 65. The number and the standard position of the cut marks (usually on the second-fourth cervical vertebrae; always from the front) indicate an effort far greater than that needed simply to cause the death of a normal (uninfected) person. The standard position also indicates these are not injuries sustained during normal warfare.'"

Re:reminds me of.....

[phoebusQ]

That has to be the hardest I've ever seen someone work to fit an anti-religion message into a post.

Re:reminds me of.....

[VultureMN]

Anti-creationist != anti-religion

I'm not religious, but am not bothered by people who are.

But creationists annoy the living shit out of me because of the tortured "logic" they try to use while attempting to justify their belief that the earth is only 6000 years old.

What's the deal with this?

[necro2607]

Uhh, am I just missing something here? Is this article a joke? Why is this posted on Slashdot? Is there some kind of long-running inside joke about this fictional "solanum" virus? Plus the site TFA is hosted on is apparently a publication from The Archaeological Institute of America...?? What the fuck. Sure, zombies are cool and all, but if I wanted to read some fantastical BS about arbitrary urban legends and whatever memes, I'd just read The Onion or browse through peoples' blogs. Woot, let's write about a bunch of fictional shit and post it in a serious tone so as to mess with people, in the middle of an otherwise factual and educational publication!

Re:I read this in the Zombie Survival Handbook

[jonfr]

Zombies took over the White House in 2001.

Re:I read this in the Zombie Survival Handbook

[Opportunist]

Hey, just because a zombie is a brainless being doesn't mean every brainless being already deserves being called a zombie!

In the name of our zombie brethern I resent them being lumped together with the bunch that currently runs the US! They already got so much bad press, they really don't deserve that.

Re:What's the deal with this?

[KefkaTheMad]

Uhh, am I just missing something here? Is this article a joke? Why is this posted on Slashdot?
by necro2607 on Thursday November 08, @06:00PM (#21288405)

Doesn't it seem strange that the only guy bashing the articles goes by the name necro2607? Methinks he must be part of the zombie cover-up conspiracy, trying to keep their plans a secret while they raise their unholy army of the dead to conquer the world.

Re:huh?

[WilliamSChips]

No, people wanting power is the single largest cause of human suffering. Religion is merely the single largest catalyst of human suffering. There's a difference, you know.

Re:huh?

[ThaReetLad]

The sum of thousands of years of human suffering at the hands of religious leaders can't hold a candle to the hundreds of millions of deaths at the hands of 20th century dictators, nevermind the suffering worldwide today caused by the western greed. Every single day 10 times as people die due to poverty as were killed by the spanish inquisition, when we in the west waste vast sums on skiing holidays, cosmetics and keeping our appliances on standby. That's 10 million people a year!

The single largest cause of suffering? Greed. For money, power, sex etc. No question. Religion is merely the context in which some people have exercised that greed.

Re:Young earth

[genner]

The universe is open source. The API is just a bit kludgy.