Archaeology: Larger-scale warfare may have occurred in Europe 1,000 years earlier

EurekAlert! ^ | November 2, 2023 | Teresa Fernandez‑Crespo and colleagues

[SunkenCiv]

A re-analysis of more than 300 sets of 5,000-year-old skeletal remains excavated from a site in Spain suggests that many of the individuals may have been casualties of the earliest period of warfare in Europe, occurring over 1,000 years before the previous earliest known larger-scale conflict in the region...

Teresa Fernández‑Crespo and colleagues re-examined the skeletal remains of 338 individuals for evidence of healed and unhealed injuries. All the remains were from a single mass burial site in a shallow cave in the Rioja Alavesa region of northern Spain, radiocarbon dated to between 5,400 and 5,000 years ago. 52 flint arrowheads had also been discovered at the same site, with previous research finding that 36 of these had minor damage associated with hitting a target. The authors found that 23.1% of the individuals had skeletal injuries, with 10.1% having unhealed injuries, substantially higher than estimated injury rates for the time (7–17% and 2–5%, respectively). They also found that 74.1% of the unhealed injuries and 70.0% of the healed injuries had occurred in adolescent or adult males, a significantly higher rate than in females, and a difference not seen in other European Neolithic mass-fatality sites.

The overall injury rate, the higher injury rate for males, and the previously observed damage to the arrowheads suggest that many of the individuals at the burial site were exposed to violence and may have been casualties of conflict. The relatively high rate of healed injuries suggests that the conflict continued over several months, according to the authors. The reasons for the conflict are unclear, but the authors speculate on several possible causes, including tension between different cultural groups in the region during the Late Neolithic.

[SunkenCiv]

Selections from the Lactose Tolerance / Intolerance keywords:

• 'Extremely rare' 3,000-year-old sword discovered in Germany is so well preserved it SHINES, archaeologists say [06/16/2023]
• 'Europe's oldest battle' in Germany's Tollense Valley 3,250 years ago may actually have been a brutal MASSACRE of 1,400 Bronze Age merchants [10/26/2020]
• Lactose tolerance spread throughout Europe in only a few thousand years [09/16/2020]
• Lost in Combat? [3000 years ago] [10/18/2019]
• What Europe's most ancient battlefield reveals [10/09/2017]
• For Peaceable Humans, Don't Look to Prehistory [07/01/2016]
• High Alpine Dairying May Have Begun Over 3000 Years Ago [04/26/2016]
• Unexpected and Gruesome Battle of 1250 BC Involved 4,000 Men from Across Northern Europe [03/25/2016]
• Scientists sequence first ancient Irish human genomes [Book of Invasions] [12/28/2015]
• Ancient Europeans remained intolerant to lactose for 5,000 years after they adopted agriculture [11/02/2014]
• Massive Gold Trove Sparks Archeological Dispute ("3,300-year-old treasure") [06/21/2012]
• "Early Bronze Age battle site found on German river bank" [05/22/2011]
• Early Bronze Age battle site found on German river bank [05/22/2011]
• Avoiding dairy due to lactose intolerance is unnecessary in most cases [02/25/2010]
• Archaeologists find bones from prehistoric war in Germany [10/11/2008]

[SunkenCiv]

• Mesopotamia: Research finds dramatic increase in cranial traumas as the first cities were being built, suggesting a rise in violence [10/17/2023]
• Indus Valley: The Mysteries of a Mass Graveyard of Early Indians [10/07/2023]

[SunkenCiv]

I'd been working on a standalone topic about the Copper Age, but couldn't get far into either of these; one was annoying presentation, the other, well, the same reason.

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The Copper Age Explained (The rise of civilization) | 11:42
Epimetheus | 642K subscribers | 972,360 views | August 20, 2021

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In this May 12, 2013 Sunday at the Met program, discover how the introduction of metal production over 6,000 years ago created a "metallurgy revolution" that sparked social change in the southern Levant. Examine elaborate and prestigious metal objects created in this region, including crowns, scepters, and mace heads. Learn more about the first Israeli-Jordanian-American-German international experimental archaeology expedition, led by the speaker, to locate the Copper Age trade route used by the earliest metalworkers in the Holy Land.

Thomas Evan Levy is the Distinguished Professor and Norma Kershaw Chair in the Archaeolgy of Ancient Israel and Neighboring Lands at the University of California, San Diego.

This Sunday at the Met is made possible by the Helen Diller Family.

Journey to the Copper Age | 1:10:46
The Met | 385K subscribers | 57,820 views | May 20, 2013

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[ComputerGuy]

It’s in our DNA, apparently.

[SunkenCiv]

The other GGG topics added since the previous digest ping, alpha sort:

• Archaeologists Uncover Why 17th-Century Child Was Padlocked To His Grave [Poland] [10/31/2023]
• Dallas Police Made Lee Harvey Oswald Sniper’s Nest #shorts [11/04/2023]
• Do Texas floods portend a new ice age? [05/30/2015]
• The Family Recipes That Live On in Cemeteries [11/01/2023]
• The Greek Kingdoms in Ancient China [10/31/2023]
• Humans having sex with a now-extinct species 60,000 years ago could be why you suffer from mental health issues, study claims [11/03/2023]
• In 1837, George Washington's Remains Were Disinterred. Here's What Was in the Casket. [10/31/2023]
• The Interesting Truth Behind the History of Logging! [youtube video link, PA] [11/04/2023]
• Jimmy Hoffa buried in Milwaukee? Group's theory points to ballpark [11/01/2023]
• Jimmy Hoffa Found? [11/01/2023]
• New England's "Dark Day." May 19, 1780 [17:11, with transcript] [10/31/2023]
• Sodom and Gomorrah? Evidence That a Cosmic Impact Destroyed a Biblical City in the Jordan Valley [11/03/2023]
• Stunned archaeologists find woman buried beside her 'husband' 1,000 years ago with the top of her skull missing, prompting speculation her head was hollowed out [11/04/2023]
• What Europe's most ancient battlefield reveals [10/09/2017]
• Who's buried in John Paul Jones' crypt at the Naval Academy? This isn't a trick question. [04/18/2006]
  • The American Flag Daily: I Have Not Yet Begun To Fight [07/18/2014]
  • American Minute September 23 [09/23/2011]
  • Captain John Paul Jones (July 6, 1747- July 18, 1792) [07/06/2010]
  • A new search for John Paul Jones' Bonhomme Richard [09/14/2010]
  • [Redux: from July 4, 2012] The 7 Most Badass Founding Fathers [07/05/2015]
  • Today in History July 18,1792 John Paul Jones,Naval hero of the American Revolution,died in Paris [07/18/2010]

[SunkenCiv]

If it weren’t, our DNA wouldn’t be smeared all over every surface. ;^)

[x]

This is sort of how the Bronze Age started:

"You got tin in my copper!"

"You got copper in my tin!"

[JimRed]

52 flint arrowheads had also been discovered at the same site, with previous research finding that 36 of these had minor damage associated with hitting a target.

Missing a target and hitting a tree, rock or the ground would do the same damage, or more to a flint arrowhead.

[Texan5]

If there were enough people on two opposing sides of a dispute over just about anything-territory/arable land, water source, trade/business, personal and/or policy disputes between ruling families/groups, etc-there was a reason for large-scale warfare in any age-I don’t think that is surprising...

[buwaya]

Rioja Alavesa - was there in 2021 - the town of Laguardia, etc. Lovely place. The provincial borders of the Basque country are bizarre. There are several enclaves of one province inside another, and in that region of mountains and valleys several regions (Alava, Navarra, La Rioja and Burgos) and provinces abut each other, and you can drive in and out of a region along the same road.

Another plus, maybe, is that the whole place is relatively unspoiled by tourism, other than by locals, from say Bilbao or Pamplona.

[SunkenCiv]

Sounds fun!

[ckilmer]

My understanding is that this period in european history coincides with 1000 year push westward by the steppe herders from roughly today’s ukraine. They essentially killed all the males of europe and took their women. So every male of european stock today’s patrilineal line descend from these herders. Why were they so successful. They were about 2 inches taller and broader at the chest than the mix of anatolian farmers and western hunter gatherers who inhabited the region. they were also more ferocious. As well, they had horses.

[firebrand]

At the dawn of recorded history, the Middle East was at war.

Of course we know it went on long, long before that.

All you have to do is look around at all the people calling for war today in order to know that we are a warlike people who must consciously change if we want it to change.

[SunkenCiv]

lol