About 6,200 years ago, 41 people in what is now Croatia were killed and buried in a mass grave, and according to a new analysis of the remains, members of their own community may have murdered them.
Adult men and women were among the dead, but the ages in the group ranged from 2 years old to 50 years old, and about half of the skeletons were children. Many of the fatal blows were attacks to the skull landing from behind, and there were no markings on the arm bones that indicated the victims were trying to defend themselves from their attackers, scientists reported in a new study.
Genetic analysis showed that about 70% of the deceased were not closely related to other victims, but all had a common ancestry. Researchers suspect the massacre may have been prompted by a sudden population explosion or shift in climate conditions that depleted resources and led to indiscriminate massacre.
Related: 25 eerie archaeological finds
The grave was discovered in 2007, when a man living in a small village in the hills of Potočani, Croatia, was digging a foundation for a garage and heavy rains uncovered a pit containing dozens of skeletons. Archaeologists from the University of Zagreb happened to conduct a survey in the neighborhood, and they were able to examine the mass grave the day it was discovered, said Mario Novak, lead author of the new study and head of the Laboratory of Evolutionary Anthropology. and Bioarchaeology at the Institute of Anthropological Research in Zagreb, Croatia.
The well is small, measuring about 2 meters in diameter and 1 meter deep, and at least 41 bodies had been unceremoniously dumped. Initially, the archaeologists thought the remains were modern, either from World War II or from the Croatian War of Independence in the 1990s, Novak told Live Science. But there were no contemporary objects in the well – only fragments of pottery that appeared prehistoric. And when investigators inspected the victims’ teeth, they found no dental fillings. Radiocarbon dating of bones, earth, and pottery fragments confirmed the burial’s age, dating it to around 4200 BC
The researchers identified 21 of the victims as children between 2 and 17 years old, and 20 as adults between 18 and 50 years old; 21 of the dead were male and 20 female.
“Just kill randomly”
But how did they end up buried together? For the new study, Novak and his colleagues took a sample DNA of remains and analyzed the bones of 38 individuals. When the researchers inspected the bodies, they found that most had at least one traumatic injury to the back of the skull, and some skulls had as many as four punctures. Mass graves in medieval Europe often contain people of all ages and genders who succumbed to the disease Black Death, but the victims in the Potočani well died from violence, not infectious disease, Novak explained.
“The only plausible scenario was a massacre,” he said.
The distribution of men and women, and of adults and children, was roughly equal, and there were no wounds on their limbs or faces, so they were unlikely to be killed in a skirmish in combat. It is not known whether the victims were restrained or otherwise unable to defend themselves – “if someone attacks you with a club or sword, you reflexively raise your forearm to protect the head,” which is at the very least. would have left some residue with cuts on the arm bones, Novak said. “But we have not seen any facial injuries, and no defensive injuries.”
Genetic data showed that only 11 of the victims were close relatives, so the massacre did not target any specific family group. Nor did it look like a planned discriminatory murder, where enemies tended to kill older men while capturing women.
“In this case, it was just random killing, without any concerns about gender and age,” Novak said.
A Neolithic death pit recently described in Spain also contained a maze of skeletons – male and female, young and old. DNA showed the victims had recently arrived in the region, so they may have been slaughtered by locals protecting their territory, Live Science previously reportedBut genetic evidence from the site in Potočani indicated that while most of the dead were not closely related, they shared a common ancestry. This means that they were not newcomers; rather, they came from a local population that was homogeneous and stable, “so we can rule out that this massacre was related to the influx of new immigrants,” Novak said.
The most likely explanation is one that archaeologists and climatologists have suggested for other ancient massacre sites in Germany and Austria dating back to about 5,000 years ago, also killing adults and children indiscriminately and throwing them into shallow mass graves. In those scenarios, long term climate change that caused floods or drought – perhaps combined with unexpected population growth – could have sparked arguments over precious resources.
And in Potočani, one of those struggles turned deadly.
“By studying such ancient massacres, we could try to get a glimpse of the psychology of these people, and perhaps try to prevent similar events today,” Novak said. “We have evidence of ancient massacres dating back to 10,000 years ago, at least. Today we also have modern massacres – the only thing that has changed is that we now have more efficient means and weapons to do such things. human nature or human psychology has changed a lot. “
The findings were published online March 10 in the journal PLOS One
Originally published on Live Science.