Kristina Killgrove is an archaeologist with specialties in ancient human skeletons and science communication. Her academic research has appeared in numerous scientific journals, while her news stories and essays have been published in venues such as Forbes, Mental Floss and Smithsonian.
Over 5,000 years ago, men, women and children with head trauma and arrow wounds were buried in a mass grave in Spain. Now, archaeologists have teased apart this tangled web of skeletons, revealing new evidence of ancient warfare, a new study finds.
Researchers initially concluded that they'd found evidence of a Neolithic massacre. But a new analysis of the SJAPL skeletons has revealed that these people were most likely killed in separate raids or battles over a period of several months or years.In a study published Thursday in the journal Scientific Reports, first author Teresa Fernández-Crespo, an archaeologist at the University of Valladolid in Spain, and her team describe the healed and unhealed injuries on the SJAPL skeletons.
All told, adolescent and adult males buried at SJAPL accounted for 97.6% of unhealed trauma and 81.7% of healed trauma recorded in skeletons whose biological sex could be estimated. This suggests, according to the study authors, that the mass grave represents"one or more 'war layers' resulting from battles and/or raids where the involvement of males was dominant."
These Late Neolithic communities — each of which consisted of a few hundred people — comprised mostly farmers, who cultivated wheat and barley and tended to domesticated herds of sheep, cattle and pigs. But additional evidence of illness and stress that the team found on the Neolithic skeletons suggests that food scarcity may have affected the people and potentially been a trigger for the violence.
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Spain’s Princess Leonor Makes Her Debut in Parliament for Her 18th BirthdayWhile the princess swore allegiance to the constitution, some news outlets were calling the frenzy surrounding the nation’s future queen “Leonormania.”
Read more »
Spain defender Paredes misses Women's Nations League game because of computer glitchSpain defender Irene Paredes has been kept from making her 100th appearance with the women’s national team because of a computer glitch. Spain coach Montse Tomé said after the team’s 7-1 rout of Switzerland in the Women’s Nations League that a computer error kept Paredes from being added to Spain’s official match squad.
Read more »
VW Puts East European Gigafactory Plans On Ice, Due To Low Demand For EVsThe company has already confirmed plans for three gigafactories in Germany, Spain, and Canada
Read more »
Three charged with sending Russia over $7 million in electronics to aid war on UkraineNikolay Goltsev, Salimdzhon Nasriddinov and Kristina Puzyreva are accused of evading sanctions in order to send Russia equipment used in their missile systems.
Read more »
Three charged with sending Russia over $7 million in electronics to aid war on UkraineNikolay Goltsev, Salimdzhon Nasriddinov and Kristina Puzyreva are accused of evading sanctions in order to send Russia equipment used in their missile systems.
Read more »
Three charged with sending Russia over $7 million in electronics to aid war on UkraineNikolay Goltsev, Salimdzhon Nasriddinov and Kristina Puzyreva are accused of evading sanctions in order to send Russia equipment used in their missile systems.
Read more »