Human Skull, Crossed Bones and Their Symbolism

 Bare bones of the human body obviously represent the remains of dead people, and can therefore be seen as a symbol of death and human mortality. For this reason it might be scary to look at a set of bones, a skeleton or a human skull. It causes people to think about their ancestors, and you’ll try to imagine what our ancestors might have looked like, who they were and where they came from. There is one thing they shared with us over hundreds and even thousands of years – they had the same bones structure, which makes it easier for us to imagine what an ancestor of us might have looked like many years ago, e.g. in the Neolithic or in the Middle Ages.

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 The bones are left as a reminder of the body in coffins, tombs and burials, and archaeological excavations find skeletons from ages ago which are still in such a good condition that their age can be determined through carbon dating. These findings allow us some insight in customs and society in general in ancient civilisations. As such they really carry a message: They allow people many centuries later to connect with the life of their ancestors and to find out how they lived and what their culture was like. That sounds quite magic, but technology has given the archaeologists more sophisticated means so that step by step they are able to paint a more and more accurate picture of human society centuries and even millennia ago.

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 The representation of a skull together with crossed bones is referred to as a “memento mori”. This expression from Latin language means “Remember that you must die.” [Acc. to Merriam-Webster online dictionary]. The oldest known use was in Egyptian burials of pharaohs, like Ramesses I. He was mummified in a position with both forearms crossed in front of his body, like they would be used to protect his body for the future and to help preserving him for the after world.

 The crossed bones together with the skull were used as a symbol by the pirates, by secret organisations like the Freemasons, by the Templars, as a symbol on warning signs for poison, as well as by heavy metal and punk rock bands. Infamously and unfortunately they were also used by the Nazis (”Wehrmacht”) in WWII or by satanic cults and sects. Since so many different meanings can be put into this symbol it always depends how it is interpreted and which message is conveyed together with it.