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Post by UKarchaeology on Jan 29, 2016 20:34:09 GMT
 The fossilized bones of a group of prehistoric hunter-gatherers have been unearthed near Lake Turkana in Kenya, at a place called Nataruk. The smashed remains give evidence of the first human massacre and the brutality of early man.Researchers from Cambridge University's Leverhulme Centre for Human Evolutionary Studies have found the partial fossilized remains of 27 individuals, including eight women and six children. The archaeologists believe the remains are members of an extended family group of hunter-gatherers who were apparently set upon by a rival group. The researchers believe their find, dated at 10,000 years old, is the earliest scientifically dated evidence of human conflict, older than an earlier discovery found in Germany that is dated to approximately 5000 B.C., according to Fox News. The research team say that four of the victims, including a near-term pregnant woman, were bound by the hands before they were slaughtered. The skeletal remains of 12 male individuals and one young male, thought to be around 12 to 13 years old were found apart from the remains of the women and children. All the bodies showed evidence of blunt-force trauma, with deep cranial and facial fractures, as well as broken hands, knees and ribs. Some showed arrow lesions in the neck and two of the men had stone projectiles lodged in the thorax areas of their bodies, reports Science Daily. Full story: www.digitaljournal.com/science/evidence-of-earliest-massacre-found-dates-back-10-000-years/article/455457#ixzz3yfRPEdOr |
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Post by UKarchaeology on Jan 29, 2016 21:15:27 GMT
Another article on the matter;  Skeletons from a 10,000-year-old massacre have archaeologists in a fight of their ownResearchers describe a 10,000-year-old Kenyan massacre that led to the deaths of 12 people in a study published in Nature today. Of the bodies that were recovered, 10 show signs of violent injuries; the other two may have belonged to people who were tied up when they died. The authors of the study say the finding is the earliest scientifically dated evidence of violence between groups of ancient hunter-gatherers. But that interpretation is disputed by outside researchers, which means a dozen prehistoric skeletons have just started a scholarly fight. The first skeleton that the researchers excavated was found in 2012 in Kenya, at a site named Nataruk. It was lying with its face in the lagoon sediments, and had very clear evidence of major traumatic lesions to the head, says Marta Mirazon Lahr, an evolutionary biologist at the University of Cambridge and a co-author of the paper. The second skeleton they found was also lying face down, as was the one with that had a small blade still embedded in its skull. "At that point, we knew we were dealing with an extraordinary finding," she says. Ultimately, researchers uncovered remains belonging to at least 27 people. Many were broken and in bad shape, but the scientists managed to find 12 skeletons — 10 of which appeared to have died of lethal injuries. The position of their hands of the other two skeletons suggest that they were bound when their owners died. Whatever happened led to the deaths of at least seven men, and possibly five women. Full story: www.theverge.com/2016/1/20/10798042/ancient-violence-warfare-nature-study-kenya-nataruk |
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