Brutal 6,200-Year-Old Massacre Shows Humans Have Sucked for a Really Long Time
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The upper layers of the mass grave, found in Croatia. (Image: Jacqueline Balen, Archaeological Museum of Zagreb)
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Dozens of savagely murdered individuals found buried in a Copper Age mass grave is shedding new light onto the lives of these early farmers and the unspeakable violence they occasionally had to endure.
Charlotte Edwards, Digital Technology and Science Reporter
Mar 11 2021, 7:59 ET
Updated: Mar 11 2021, 10:38 ET
FRESH analysis of a 6200 year old mass grave suggests all 41 people inside were murdered by members of their own community in a random massacre.
The ancient grave was found in Croatia and a new study has revealed victims were of all ages from around two to 50 years old.
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The mass grave contained 41 victimsCredit: Novak et al, 2021, PLOS One
According to the study, many of the victims were killed with strikes to the skull from behind.
It s unlikely a lot of them knew they were about to be attacked as there s not a lot of skeletal evidence to suggest attempts at defence.
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The Croatian Massacre: Basic Facts And Genetic Findings
The latest research was carried out by an international team of scientists with expertise in genetic analysis, through the Centre for Applied Bioanthropology at the Institute for Anthropological Research in Zagreb, Croatia.
The scientists were able to extract unique DNA samples for 38 of the 41 individuals. Based on preliminary assumptions, they had expected to find that most of these people were closely related and had perhaps had all come from one extended family.
Surprisingly, the opposite proved to be the case. Only 11 of the 38 individuals were directly related, meaning more than two-thirds of the victims had no familial connections with any of the others.
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.
But a more recent discovery by a research team that includes two University of Wyoming faculty members reveals the oldest documented site of an indiscriminate mass killing 6,200 years ago in what is now Potocani, Croatia.
“The DNA, combined with the archaeological and skeletal evidence especially that indicating systematic violence, perhaps even execution-style demonstrates an indiscriminate massacre and haphazard burial of 41 individuals from an early pastoralist community in what is now eastern Croatia,” says James Ahern, a UW professor in the Department of Anthropology and associate vice provost for graduate education.