Five thousand years ago in Spain, a large group of people, including men, women, and children, who had suffered head injuries and arrow wounds, were buried together in a mass grave. A recent study conducted by archaeologists has unraveled this complex mystery of skeletons, shedding light on ancient conflicts.
This discovery was made at the San Juan ante Portam Latinam (SJAPL) rock shelter in the town of Laguardia, located in northern Spain.
First excavation of the site in Spain
In 1991, the site was first excavated, revealing over three hundred skeletons that have been dated back to the years 3380 to 3000 B.C. These skeletons were found in a single mass grave, with many of them tangled together in unusual positions.
Alongside the skeletons, excavators uncovered numerous flint arrowheads and blades, as well as stone axes and personal ornaments.
Initially, researchers thought they had uncovered evidence of a brutal event from the Neolithic era. However, a fresh analysis of the SJAPL skeletons has shown that these individuals were likely victims of separate attacks or battles that occurred over a span of several months or even years.
Latest study about the skeletons in mass grave in Spain
In a study published on Thursday, November 2nd in the journal Scientific Reports, Teresa Fernández-Crespo, the lead author and an archaeologist from the University of Valladolid in Spain, and her team examined the injuries on the skeletons found at the SJAPL site. They identified both healed and unhealed injuries.
Among the findings, researchers discovered a total of 107 injuries to the skulls, with most of them located on the top of the head. These injuries are believed to have resulted from blunt-force trauma, possibly from strikes with stone maces or wooden clubs.
Notably, the majority of these cranial injuries were detected in males, with nearly five times as many men as women displaying signs of head trauma.
The team also investigated injuries on the rest of the skeletons. They identified twenty-two cases of trauma, mainly in the form of spiral or V-shaped fractures affecting the limbs, along with twenty-five injuries to other parts of the body.
Like the cranial injuries, these non-head injuries were also more prevalent in men, and they were almost four times as likely as women to have signs of bodily trauma. Furthermore, arrowhead injuries were strongly associated with male skeletons, indicating that men were more frequently subjected to long-range attacks compared to women.
Demographics of the buried individuals in mass grave
In total, when considering adolescent and adult males buried at the SJAPL site, they accounted for a significant portion of the recorded injuries.
Specifically, they made up 97.6 percent of unhealed injuries and 81.7 percent of healed injuries in skeletons for which the researchers could estimate the biological sex. This strongly suggests the mass grave represents the aftermath of one or more episodes of conflict, possibly battles or raids, during which the participation of males was predominant.
Teresa Fernández-Crespo, one of the authors of the study, explained it is possible these findings indicate a regional clash between different groups at SJAPL. The conflict could have arisen due to competition for resources and increased social complexity, potentially escalating into deadly violence between communities.
Community engagement in farming
These Late Neolithic communities, each consisting of a few hundred individuals, were primarily engaged in farming. They cultivated crops like wheat and barley and also tended to domesticated herds of sheep, cattle, and pigs.
The study also uncovered additional signs of illness and stress in the Neolithic skeletons, implying that food shortages may have affected these people and could have been a consequence of the violence.
Not only was Neolithic Europe not peaceful, it was – at least at times – exceptionally violent.
Evidence from a mass grave this time in Spain, where mainly men and boys but also women and girls had their heads smashed in and/or were shot with arrows.
Healed trauma suggests the… pic.twitter.com/aIKLiYs21N
— Dan Davis (@DanDavisWrites) November 2, 2023
Ryan Harrod, a bioarchaeologist from the University of Alaska Anchorage who was not involved in the study, commented that this research provides compelling evidence of conflicts between regions where male combatants perished in battle.
He noted the fact that there were more nonlethal injuries compared to lethal ones among the 338 individuals suggests the regional clashes may not have been large-scale epic battles or full-scale warfare.
Most formalized way of warfare
Researchers believe the convergence of various findings—including injuries caused by arrows, signs of health problems in the skeletons, the presence of different cultural groups, and the pressure from a large population—at the SJAPL site, may have created a situation similar to a powder keg which appears to have exploded five thousand years ago.
This had led to what researchers describe as a “more sophisticated and formalized way of warfare than previously appreciated in the European Neolithic record.”
Read the full story on GreekReporter.com.