March 10, 2021
The upper layers of the Potočani mass burial shows numerous commingled skeletons. James Ahern, a UW professor of anthropology and associate vice provost for graduate education, contributed to a paper that reveals the oldest documented site of an indiscriminate mass killing 6,200 years ago in what is now Potočani, Croatia. The paper was published in PLOS ONE March 10. (Jacqueline Balen Photo, Archaeological Museum in Zagreb)
In previous research, ancient massacre sites found men who died while pitted in battle or discovered executions of targeted families. At other sites, evidence showed killing of members of a migrant community in conflict with previously established communities, and even murders of those who were part of religious rituals.