The Limited Times

Now you can see non-English news...

They built a garage and found the remains of the oldest massacre in history

2023-05-25T17:50:40.785Z

Highlights: DNA tests on the skeletons proved that the burial of 41 people from a pastoral community in Croatia 6,200 years ago was a massacre. DNA, archaeological and skeletal evidence uncovered a massacre and indiscriminate burial. "This is the oldest known case of indiscriminate mass killing that we know of," says James Ahern, a University of Washington professor in the Department of Anthropology. Men and women were found at the site, and there was no sexual bias, as the number of males and females was almost equal in number.


DNA tests on the skeletons proved that the burial of 41 people from a pastoral community in Croatia 6,200 years ago was a massacre.


DNA, archaeological and skeletal evidence uncovered a massacre and indiscriminate burial of 41 individuals from an ancient pastoralist community in what is now eastern Croatia, 6,200 years ago.

In previous research, ancient massacre sites contained men who died while engaged in battle or executions of targeted families.

Elsewhere, evidence showed killings of members of a migrant community in conflict with previously established communities, and even killings of those who were part of religious rituals.

Blunt force injuries in children (left) and young women (right) (M. Novak / Institute of Anthropological Research).

But this one from a research team reveals the oldest documented site of an indiscriminate mass slaughter 6,200 years ago in what is now Potocani, Croatia.

"DNA, combined with archaeological and skeletal evidence, especially that indicating systematic violence, perhaps even an execution style, demonstrates an indiscriminate massacre and fortuitous burial of 41 individuals from an ancient pastoralist community in what is now eastern Croatia," says James Ahern, a University of Washington professor in the Department of Anthropology.

Ahern was a non-senior co-author of a paper, titled "Genome-wide analysis of nearly all victims of a 6,200-year-old massacre," which was published in PLOS ONE two years ago. The co-author is fellow university student Ivor Jankovic, an assistant professor of anthropology.

Discovered during the construction of a garage

In 2007, the Croatian site underwent a "rescue" excavation that occurred when the burial was discovered during the construction of a garage on private land, Ahern said.

The remains of 41 individuals from an ancient pastoralist community in what is now eastern Croatia, killed 6,200 years ago (Novak et al, 2021, PLOS One).

Archaeologists, led by Jacqueline Balen of the Zagreb Archaeological Museum, who were working closely on an assessment of the impact of cultural resources related to the construction of a highway, were called in to investigate.

In 2012, Ahern and Jankovic, then a research scientist at the Institute of Anthropological Research, were invited by the archaeologists in charge of Potocani's discoveries to analyze the skeletal remains. The skeletal remains had to be cleaned and inventoried.

"This is the oldest known case of indiscriminate mass killing that we know of," says Ahern. "In some ways, it goes against conventional wisdom about early farmers, the Neolithic and the Eneolithic, who were long thought to live in small villages or groups of shepherds.

"DNA evidence indicates only a few close relatives in such a large sample, meaning that the violence was not only apparently indiscriminate, but involved a subset of a much larger local population."

Three penetrating wounds on the right side of the skull of a young woman from Potočani (M. Novak / Institute of Anthropological Research).

Men and women were found

Genetic analysis revealed that 70 percent of the skeletons analyzed had no close relatives among the deceased. In addition, there was no sexual bias, as the number of males and females found at the site was almost equal in number.

This indicates that the massacre was not the result of fights between men that one would expect in battles, nor was it the result of a retaliatory event against individuals of a specific sex.

Head injuries were found in 13 of the 41 people massacred at the site, according to the study.

"Although we have no evidence on the cause of death of the other people, it is almost certain that their deaths were violent," says Ahern. "Multiple radiocarbon dates, as well as burial sedimentology, indicate a single burial event.

"In addition, most violent deaths leave no clear evidence of trauma in preserved skeletal remains," he continues. "People could have been strangled, beaten, cut or stabbed in soft tissue areas or in ways that did not damage the underlying bones."

Europa Press Agency.

See also

The date when the Earth will run out of oxygen is known

See also

He had sex for 24 continuous hours and had to have his penis amputated

See also

A steward sweeps the networks for his way of giving instructions

GML

Source: clarin

All news articles on 2023-05-25

You may like

News/Politics 2024-01-31T10:39:43.704Z

Trends 24h

Latest

© Communities 2019 - Privacy

The information on this site is from external sources that are not under our control.
The inclusion of any links does not necessarily imply a recommendation or endorse the views expressed within them.