27 March 2023 The Future is the Product of the Past

Analysis of 13,000-Year-Old Bones Reveals Violent Raids in Prehistoric ‘Jebel Sahaba’

Since its discovery in the 1960s, the 13-millennium-old Jebel Sahaba cemetery (Nile Valley, Sudan) has been regarded as one of the earliest witnesses of prehistoric warfare.

Scientists from the CNRS and the University of Toulouse – Jean Jaurès have re-analyzed and evaluated the bones preserved at the British Museum (London).

Reanalysis of the prehistoric cemetery Jebel Sahaba, Sudan, one of the earliest sites showing human warfare, suggests that hunter-fisher-gatherers engaged in repeated, smaller conflicts. The findings are published in Scientific Reports. Healed trauma on the skeletons found in the cemetery indicates that individuals fought and survived several violent assaults, rather than fighting in one fatal event as previously thought.

Projectile impact puncture with an embedded lithic fragment in the posterior surface of the left hip bone of individual JS 21. Photo: Isabelle Crevecoeur/Marie-Hélène Dias-Meirinho

Isabelle Crevecoeur, Daniel Antoine, and colleagues used the latest microscopy techniques to reanalyze the skeletal remains of 61 people originally excavated in the 1960s. This group of authors identified 106 previously unrecorded injuries and traumas and was able to distinguish projectile injuries (from arrows or spears), trauma (from melee combat), and traces related to natural decay. They found that 41 people (67%) buried in Jebel Sahaba had at least one cured or uncured injury. Among the 41 injured, 92% have evidence that these causes are caused by projectiles and close combat, which indicates interpersonal violence.

The authors believe that at the end of the Late Pleistocene (126,000 to 11,700 years ago), sporadic and repeated acts of violence between the Nile Valley groups were not always fatal, but the number of wounds healed was consistent with these acts of violence. They speculate that these may be repeated small-scale conflicts or attacks between different groups. At least half of the injuries were identified as puncture wounds, caused by projectiles like spears and arrows, which supports the authors’ theory that these injuries happened when groups attacked from a distance, rather than during domestic conflicts.

Orijinal Article

Banner
Related Post

In Cyprus, an important early Christian site has been discovered

12 September 2021

12 September 2021

An important Christian settlement was discovered with mosaics bearing clear inscriptions in Greek during the excavations carried out by the...

Albastı “A Mother’s Nightmare “

5 February 2021

5 February 2021

Albastı is one of the bad characters in Turkish mythology. The fearful dream of puerperal women and babies, Albastı continues...

The colored skeletons of Çatalhöyük provide insight into the burial rituals of a fascinating society that lived 9000 years ago

18 March 2022

18 March 2022

New research provides new insights into how the inhabitants of the “oldest city in the world” in Çatalhöyük (Turkey) buried...

The rich-poor distinction draws attention in the nutrition of the inhabitants of the Ancient City of Pergamon

27 November 2021

27 November 2021

The hegemony of wealth to the poor, arising from the ruler, elite structure, property ownership, unjust acquisition, and distribution of...

Denisovans or Homo Sapiens: Who Were the First to Settle Permanently on the Tibetan Plateau?

8 December 2021

8 December 2021

The Tibetan Plateau has long been considered one of the last places to be populated by people in their migration...

The largest marine turtle fossil of its kind ever discovered in Europe unearthed in Spain

21 November 2022

21 November 2022

In northern Spain, scientists discovered the remains of a new species of enormous marine turtle. The prehistoric creature is the...

A Roman sarcophagus containing two skeletons was found in Bath, England

29 June 2021

29 June 2021

Stone walls, a Roman sarcophagus, and a cremation burial have been unearthed in a renovation project at the Bathwick Roman...

Study Reveals Mysterious Avars Origin

1 April 2022

1 April 2022

Ruled much of Central and Eastern Europe for 250 years, the Avars were less well known than Attila’s Huns, but...

Archaeologists find an Anglo-Saxon church at Stoke Mandeville excavation site

13 September 2021

13 September 2021

Archaeologists working on the HS2 project found the remains of an Anglo-Saxon church during their excavations at the former St...

Evidence found of Goose domestication in Neolithic China 7,000 years ago

8 March 2022

8 March 2022

Geese may have been domesticated in what is now China as early as 7,000 years ago, according to a study...

Lost sketches by Leonardo Da Vinci show that he understood gravity long before Newton

19 February 2023

19 February 2023

Leonardo da Vinci’s centuries-old sketches show that he may have understood key aspects of gravity long before Galileo, Newton, and...

The Big Universe Coming Out from the Dust “in Esna Temple”

7 February 2021

7 February 2021

While the Esna Temple has been waiting to renew and breathe again for a long time, it has recently experienced...

“Mosaic of the Wine Harvest” mosaic to be exhibited in November in Turkey’s Hatay

26 October 2021

26 October 2021

The mosaic depicting the grape harvest, which is considered to date from the Late Roman period, equivalent to the 5th...

Parts of the City of the old city of Ghadames called the pearl of the desert collapsed due to rainfall

28 January 2022

28 January 2022

Some parts of the Old City of Ghadames, located in an oasis about 600km southwest of Tripoli near Libya’s border...

1300-year-old stone sculpture from the ancient Turkish era found in Kazakhstan

3 August 2021

3 August 2021

A 1,300-year-old stone sculpture from the early Turkish period was discovered in Kazakhstan’s south, around 250 kilometers (155 miles) from...

Comments
Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *