A fatal ax blow directly to the skull to understand the brawls of the Neolithic

A stone weapon violently impacts a skull, causing a mortal wound.

A scientist performs this blow by surprise, an attack sometimes from the front, but also treacherously from behind, which pierces the victim's head and causes his death.

A simulation in the laboratory that is replicated, as can be seen in the video, until checking exactly how it happened during the Neolithic.

Just like rewinding a movie, the researcher repeats the action over and over again, trial and error, until he comes up with a model that best resembles the actual cranial drilling that took place thousands of years ago deep in a cave.

It is the unprecedented recreation made by paleoanthropologist Miguel Ángel Moreno-Ibáñez, from the Catalan Institute of Human Paleoecology and Social Evolution (IPHES).

The scientist designed head models, made of polyurethane and silicone, and then smashed them with axes and adzes—a cross between a Neolithic hammer and hatchet.

skulls

they simulate the thickness of the human skeleton and the subcutaneous layer of the skin, and are filled with ballistic gelatin similar in viscosity to the soft tissue of the brain.

The goal of the experiment in violence was to learn everything about the actual assault in the past, how the attacker acted, and what the skeletal remains of the murdered victim indicate.

"The direction of the blow, the type of fracture, the subsidence of the skull, the position of the fissures and where they are directed," details the main researcher.

His work is now published in the Journal

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An unprecedented recreation of a fatal assault from the past helps to understand how the attacker acted, and is useful to know what happened to the victim

Miguel Ángel Moreno-Ibáñez, researcher at the Catalan Institute of Human Paleoecology and Social Evolution (IPHES)

Miguel Ángel Moreno-Ibáñez, from the Catalan Institute of Human Paleoecology and Social Evolution (IPHES), investigating the Tarragona cave where the skeletal remains were found.

Some 5,000 years ago, in a cave in northeast Spain, someone sneaked up on an elderly man from behind and struck him over the head with a blunt object, probably killing him.

This must have been the skirmish between two individuals that has left clues in the Catalan archaeological site of Cova Foradada in Calafell, Tarragona.

"This is an episode of interpersonal violence, if we get technical," Moreno-Ibáñez laughs with the exact definition.

The investigator cannot say whether it was an isolated case, a feud within a local group, or a brawl against a rival clan, because the victim was buried collectively along with at least 18 other individuals.

In Neolithic Europe, more violent confrontations began to occur, although not on a large scale or in a general way, ironically, due to an increase in the general quality of life.

Miguel Ángel Moreno-Ibáñez, from IPHES and the Rovira i Virgili University

The main objective of the reconstruction was to discern whether the head injury was intentional or accidental, since a death after a fortuitous event was common in the Neolithic.

"Our methodology comes from forensic science and ballistics, they are widely used resources to see the entry and exit of a bullet," summarizes Moreno-Ibáñez: "Same method, but applied to prehistoric archaeology."

The researchers chose two weapons, the most common at the time: ax and adze.

Both are a cross between a carpentry or farming tool and a useful gadget for injuring an enemy.

The object used in this assault left its imprint with a straight surface on the bone when it injured the victim, which for the scientist rules out other options.

Miguel Ángel Moreno-Ibáñez, from PHES, with a perforated skull.

Moreno-Ibáñez points out that in the late Neolithic era in Europe, "violent confrontations began, although not on a large scale or in a general way."

Despite this, these skirmishes did not always amount to the death of the participants, since there is "evidence of healed wounds, and even very archaic proto-surgery and medical care," the author clarifies.

The scientist points out that this was due, ironically, to an increase in the general quality of life, to a greater production of food, livestock and agriculture, with the consequent very important and marked growth of the population.

This "inevitably generates clashes and rivalries" between different groups, ironized the professor at the Rovira i Virgili University.

Although he qualifies: "You should not think that they were at war all day."

Regarding the deceased found in the Tarragona cave, the IPHES investigator considers that it seems like a case of specific violence that “got out of hand”, he expressed colloquially.

The scientists found the victim buried in the archaeological site with "funeral treatment".

"As with the other corpses found, there is no difference in the burial with respect to one another," concludes Moreno-Ibáñez.

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