Experts say the findings could be the first evidence of ancient human rituals. The skulls belonged to large ungulates — mammals with hooves, including horses, bison, deer and elk — and were ...

Alternatively, however, the animal remains might have been used in esoteric rituals ... They also came across 35 horned skulls belonging to bison, deer, and huge extinct species such as aurochs ...

The assemblage also includes five male deer skulls and two rhinoceroses ... that the site's occupants had repeatedly performed this ritual over a long period of time, passing the behavior ...

Researchers, including Michele Bleuze from California State University, found signs of the bones having been subject to ritual dismemberment. One skull fragment, for instance, bore a mark on one ...