A 5000-Year-Old Mass Grave of Men, Women, and Children in Spain Suggests Multiple Battles Over Food Scarcity
Several countries and cultures in the world are built on battles. Archaeologists try to look through the consequences and reasons for any evidence of struggle they come across because of its historical value. Hence, experts for decades have been trying to figure out the reason behind the body parts assemblage uncovered in Spain. A study published in Scientific Reports focused on the remains found in the San Juan ante Portam Latinam (SJAPL) rock shelter and challenges a past assertion regarding the mass grave.
The 5,000-year-old mass grave contained remains of men, women, and children, stated Live Science. The site was first excavated in 1991 and since then around 300 skeletons have been unearthed. The human remains carried evidence of head trauma and arrow wounds. Radiocarbon dating indicated that the skull dated back to 3380 to 3000 B.C. Along with human remains archaeologists also uncovered artifacts like blades, flint arrowheads, stone axes, and personal ornaments.
The past examinations noted that the remains were interwoven with each other. Experts thought that the individuals were possibly victims of a Neolithic massacre and hence laid to rest in such a haphazard manner. However, the 2023 analysis of remains, told a different story. In place of a massacre, the results indicated that the killings happened during multiple raids and battles that took place over several months or even years.
The team associated with the study in Scientific Reports found 107 instances of cranial injuries in the human remains. These injuries were both healed and unhealed. These wounds were observed more in males than in females. Most of them were spotted on the top of the skull and therefore were termed as blunt-force trauma, which is typically caused by stone maces or wooden clubs. Injuries associated with the rest of the body were also analyzed. The team uncovered 22 instances of body trauma affecting the limbs while 25 were noted on other parts of the skeleton. Here also there was a gender disparity, with more males exhibiting these injuries compared to females.
The study claimed that among the skeletons whose gender could be determined adolescent and adult males carried 97.6% of unhealed trauma and 81.7% of healed trauma. Considering that there was such a huge occurrence of unhealed trauma among the specimens, researchers speculated that a long-drawn battle possibly took place in this group's settlement. Furthermore, they believed that male involvement in the supposed war was high because they suffered the most injuries. "We think we are seeing the result of a regional inter-group conflict" at SJAPL, Teresa Fernández-Crespo, an archaeologist at the University of Valladolid in Spain shared. "Resource competition and social complexity could have been a source of tension, potentially escalating into lethal violence" between communities, she said.
Researchers believe these conflicts happened repeatedly and the casualties were later buried at the site. The findings align with evidence of food scarcity noted in contemporary Neolithic skeletons. Ryan Harrod, a bioarchaeologist at the University of Alaska Anchorage who was not involved in the study asserts that these scuffles were not epic warfares because several injuries were healed. Experts think factors like high population pressure and different cultural beliefs could have triggered a series of violent events amongst different communities. Ultimately the tensions resulted in what researchers think is a "more sophisticated and formalized way of warfare than previously appreciated in the European Neolithic record."