- Experts have analyzed a pile of severed hands found in a 3,500-year-old palace in ancient Egypt.
- Their study suggests soldiers took the hands of slain enemies and presented them to their ruler.
- The warriors would receive a prestigious award during the ceremony, according to archaeologists.
A dozen severed hands found in tombs around a 3,500-year-old palace were likely tokens presented to a king of ancient Egypt to prove the valor of his soldiers in battle, a new study found.
A new analysis of the site shows the hands, first uncovered in 2011, belonged to at least 12 people aged between 14 to 21.
The hands were carefully removed from bodies, likely soon after an enemy's death, before being placed in tombs around the throne room of King Khayan, a Hyksos ruler of Egypt's 15th dynasty.
"It's the only and first physical evidence of cutting hands in Egypt," Manfred Bietak, an archaeologist at the Austrian Academy of Sciences who collaborated on the paper, told Insider.
A gruesome war tally with a practical purpose
Contrary to popular belief, there's no evidence that Egyptians or Near Eastern cultures chopped hands off as a punishment, for stealing or otherwise, Beitak said.
But archaeological records have suggested that severed hands were presented to kings after big battles.
"They were counting the hands to have an idea about how many enemies have been killed by the Egyptian army," he said.
The trophies also likely had religious significance. The severed hands could prevent the soldiers from fighting in the netherworld, for instance, per Bietak. Pharaohs could also use them for intimidation, said Bietak. He mentioned the case of Amenophis II, who paraded the remains of seven enemy princes in distant reaches of his kingdom, supposedly to prevent dissent.
The trophies didn't necessarily have to be hands. Contemporary accounts suggest Egyptians would cut and bring back the phalluses of Lybian soldiers, who were uncircumcised, Bietak said.
The hands could give you access to the 'gold of honor'
Later documentation showed that the trophies may have been part of a gruesome public ceremony where the soldier would present the trophies to the ruler in exchange for a "gold of honor" or "valor".
This would typically take the form of a collar of golden beads.
The ceremony was mostly documented between the 18th and 20th dynasties.
Hands were likely removed soon after death
The analysis, published in the peer-reviewed journal Scientific Reports on March 31, shows that the hands were very meticulously removed from the bodies.
"The hands were in this pit and they were lacking all parts of the lower arm," said Julia Gresky, a paleopathologist from the German Archaeological Institute in Berlin, in an interview with Insider.
If the arm had simply been chopped off on the battlefield, the hand would still be attached to bits of the forearm.
Instead, the hands seem to have been removed with purpose and placed with their palms facing down, splayed out, supposedly to make them look more impressive, she said.
The way the bones have survived the trials of time suggests the hands were presented to the king shortly after the death of the enemy.
"I don't think they were cut from live people, but theoretically they could have been," she said.
A time when Egypt was ruled by Hyksos
This evidence shows that the practice was longer-lasting than previously thought, said Bietak.
Previous documentation showed the practice being used in the 18th and 20th dynasties, but this evidence shows it dates back to the time of the Hyksos, a brief chapter of ancient Egyptian history when lower Egypt was ruled by foreign leaders emerging from the Near East between the 14th and 15th dynasties.
It's possible the Hyksos rulers picked up the practice from Egyptians, or they may have created it themselves.
The Hyksos were hugely influential, and their culture helped propel Egyptian's knowledge of metallurgy, ceramics, irrigation, horse breeding and training, as well as warfare using chariots, said Bietak.
Correction: May 16, 2023 — a previous version of the article mischaracterized where the severed hands were found. These were found near a palace, not a temple. The previous version of the copy also wrongly attributed a historical fact. It was Amenophis II, not Thutmosis II, who paraded the remains of the seven slain enemy princes.
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