Search Results

This chapter provides a summary of the large human bone assemblage discovered at the Early Neolithic (Linear Pottery Culture, or LBK) site of Asparn/Schletz, Lower Austria. The bones were characterized by numerous lethal injuries suggesting that the site suffered a large-scale attack. Most intriguing is the dearth of young adult women in an otherwise catastrophic profile, with subadult and adults in proportions similar to those expected in a living population. This has been interpreted as the taking of young women as captives, a practice well attested in the ethnographic literature of small-scale societies.

This chapter presents the results of a study on the Late Neolithic/Chalcolithic (ca. 3000 cal BC) site of San Juan ante Portam Latinam in northern Spain. The population at the site comprises a minimum number of 338 individuals belonging to both sexes and all age groups. At least eleven individuals exhibited arrow injuries, some showing signs of healing and others clearly peri-mortem, while a number of crania exhibit healed depressed fractures. What is perhaps most striking is the possibility that many of the other arrowheads found intermingled with the human remains also represent the cause of death rather than grave offerings, which would significantly increase the number of individuals dying violently. The chapter also draws attention to other contemporary sites in the region, including nearby Longar with four projectile points embedded in bone, and the burial cave at Costa de can Martorell with some 200 individuals present.

This chapter presents the results of a study of 109 Early Neolithic skeletons of the Brzeşć Kujawski group in central Poland, a regional manifestation of the widespread Lengyel culture of the fifth millennium BC. Nineteen lesions attributable to interpersonal violence were recorded on fourteen individuals, over half of which were males. All five settlements from which the analysed assemblages derived exhibit signs of partial destruction and fires, with the construction of a ditch and palisade fortification following this event at one site. The results suggest a wider context for the observed skeletal injuries, and, if the two lines of evidence can be connected, would argue for between-group conflict rather than internal disputes.

This chapter presents the results of a study of skeletal remains from three Late Mesolithic and Middle Neolithic sites in the Netherlands. The remains revealed evidence for interpersonal violence. Injuries were inflicted either ante-mortem or peri-mortem and affected two male individuals from burials and one adult represented by an isolated bone. The manner of burial differed from the normal burial ritual. Isotope analyses show that these individuals were local, although non-locals were also represented in the osteological record. Explanations for the violent actions involved may be related to individual conflict or organized fights between groups.

This chapter briefly sets out the advantages of studying evidence for interpersonal violence as found on human skeletal remains, especially for the European Neolithic, for which formal weaponry is largely absent. An overview of the subsequent chapters is then presented.

This chapter revisits the paradigm-shifting Early Neolithic mass grave at Talheim, southwest Germany, dating from ca. 5000 cal BC. The discussion focuses on the sequence of events which led to the massacre of a whole community as well as morphological and isotopic evidence that has helped researchers to decipher kinship structures within this group of thirty-four men, women, and children. The nature of the burial and the demographic profile of the Talheim mass grave suggests that aggressors came not simply to plunder and pillage but to replace the local community and take over their resources.

This chapter presents research on the controversial Late LBK enclosure at Herxheim in southwest Germany. Early interpretations of the human bone assemblage from the site emphasized the presence of violent injuries to the many crania recovered in the enclosure ditches. This interpretation was subsequently modified, with the fractures being seen as post-mortem modifications undertaken as part of a secondary mortuary ritual. Debate over the site has recently been rekindled by the suggestion that at least part of the assemblage provides evidence for cannibalism. Research results indicate that skeletal remains from Herxheim do not yield any evidence of a general crisis at the end of the Linear Pottery Culture or of a violent conflict being the origins of the skeletal accumulation. Existing facts also make it impossible to prove mass cannibalism.

This chapter reviews bone injuries detected from Late Neolithic Portuguese skeletal collections, with a focus on those that may represent cases of interpersonal violence. It discusses evidence for forty-three traumatic lesions, of which the great majority are healed cranial depressions. One of these is a trepanation apparently associated with an injury, recalling the argument that at least in some cases this procedure was carried out in order to treat head wounds. Postcrania are also considered, and one case of an embedded arrowhead provides fairly unambiguous evidence for interpersonal violence.

This chapter presents the results of a study on traces of violence found on Lithuanian and Latvian Stone Age skeletal materials. Nearly 250 Mesolithic and Neolithic skeletons from Lithuania and Latvia were examined, with the majority deriving from the important multi-period site of Zvejnieki. In general, the overwhelming majority of traumas can be considered as ‘casual’, resulting from everyday activities. Cases of circumscribed inflammatory lesions on skull vaults of five males and one trephination could be a reflection of rituals related to a complex social hierarchy in ‘delayed return’ communities. Only complex sites of settlements and several burials of young males from the Late Bronze Age contain evidence of violent deaths.

This chapter considers the various depositional contexts in which human remains with (and without) evidence for trauma attributable to interpersonal violence have been found. It raises the possibility of regional variation in the prevalence of cranial injuries between southern and northern Britain within the earlier Neolithic (ca. 4000–3200 cal BC), and of contextual variation, between those interred within collective mortuary monuments, and those found in other, non-monumental contexts. The difficulties in both comparisons are considerable, due in part to differential preservation, but also to varying mortuary practices. Preliminary results suggest that comparable numbers of Neolithic individuals from caves also show injuries.

This chapter presents the results of a study on the occurrence of cranial trauma in a sub-Neolithic maritime hunter-gatherer population on the island of Gotland, in the central Baltic Sea. The material derives from cemeteries of the Pitted Ware Culture, the last hunter-gatherers of southern Scandinavia. A total of 109 adult crania were analysed (fifty-seven males and fifty-two females). Evidence for trauma was found in 14% of the males and 7.7% of the females analysed. However, with the exception of one female cranium, all showed evidence of healing.

This chapter discusses the Single Grave Culture (2800–2000 cal BC) burials from northern Germany, focusing on trepanation and healed trauma. It shows that single graves were not necessarily the most important burial rite for this group. A programme of radiocarbon dating has placed a number of injured individuals from megalithic graves in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Schleswig-Holstein, and Lower Saxony, not in the Middle Neolithic as expected but within the Late Neolithic Single Grave horizon. Virtually all individuals from this period with signs of trepanation are males and a context of male-dominated, mostly non-lethal violent interaction is proposed for the observed pattern.

This chapter presents the results of a study of cranial trauma in the Corded Ware Culture (2700–2000 cal BC) of central Germany. The study shows that individuals exhibiting cranial injuries were predominantly males, often older adults. These individuals were often buried with stone objects, especially battle axes, which points to a rather concrete connection between the weapon and the biography of the deceased.

This chapter presents the findings from three collective burial caves in central Portugal, with material spanning most of the Neolithic period, from ca. 5000 to 3000 cal BC. Sixty individuals are represented, but not all are complete and preservation is often poor. Nevertheless, seven cases of cranial trauma are reported, all showing signs of healing. All are on adults, and, where sex can be determined, all are male. There is no side preference to the location of the injuries.

This chapter reviews all recorded evidence of trauma during the Mesolithic and Neolithic Periods in Greece due to either accidental causes or violence. It begins even earlier, with a small but important Mesolithic assemblage from Franchthi Cave. While the numbers are not large, it is interesting to note that cranial trauma is more prevalent in the Mesolithic sample than in the Late Neolithic assemblage from the same site. While a comparison of Early and Late Neolithic assemblages hints at an increased prevalence of cranial trauma over time, the difference is not statistically significant. The majority of injuries in the Neolithic show healing, leading to the conclusion that the evidence reflects sporadic, non-lethal, face-to-face confrontations between mainly young adult males, though injuries are not entirely absent on women and children. The chapter also discusses the difficulty of interpreting postcranial fractures as evidence for violent encounters.

This chapter presents the results of a study of the cranial remains of 186 individuals belonging to the Late Neolithic Wartberg Culture of central Germany. The remains came from three collective burials in North Rhine-Westphalia and Hessen, excavated between 1934 and 1993. A total of thirteen individuals (7%) presented with evidence for healed trauma whereas unhealed cranial injuries were noted on eight individuals (4.3%). Interpersonal violence appears to have been endemic and to have affected all sections of society.