A fatal axe blow to the skull casts light on the violent brawls of the Neolithic

A stone weapon violently impacts a skull, causing a mortal wound. A scientist has inflicted this surprise blow, an attack that sometimes comes from the front, but also, treacherously, from behind, piercing the victim’s head and causing their death. The lab simulation is replicated until the researcher is able to tell exactly how it happened during the Neolithic. He repeats the action over and over again, trial and error, until he comes up with the model that best resembles the actual cranial impact that took place in the depths of a cave thousands of years ago.

This unprecedented recreation was carried out by paleoanthropologist Miguel Ángel Moreno-Ibáñez from the Catalan Institute of Human Paleoecology and Social Evolution (IPHES), in Spain. The scientist designed head models made of polyurethane and silicone and then smashed them with axes and adzes (a cross between a Neolithic hatchet and a hammer). The fake skulls simulate the thickness of the human skeleton and the subcutaneous layer of the skin, and are filled with ballistic gelatin, which is similar in viscosity to the soft tissue of the brain. The goal of this exercise in violence was to find out everything about the actual prehistoric assault, how the attacker acted and what the skeletal remains of the murdered victim reveal. “The direction of the blow, the type of fracture, the indentation of the skull, the position of the fissures and where they are directed,” details the lead researcher. Their work has now been published in the Journal of Archaeological Science.

Approximately 5,000 years ago, in a cave in northeast Spain, someone snuck up on an elderly man from behind and struck him over the head with a blunt object, probably killing him. It was an encounter between two individuals that left clues in the Catalan archaeological site of Cova Foradada in Calafell, Tarragona.

“This is an episode of interpersonal violence, if we get technical,” laughs Moreno-Ibáñez. The researcher cannot say whether this was an isolated case, a feud within a local group or a brawl against a rival clan, because the victim was part of a collective burial with at least 18 other people.

“Our methodology comes from forensic science and ballistics; Same method, but applied to prehistoric archaeology

Miguel Ángel Moreno-Ibáñez, paleoanthropologist

The main objective of this reconstruction was to find out whether the injury was intentional or accidental, because a death after a fortuitous event was a common occurrence during the Neolithic. “Our methodology comes from forensic science and ballistics; they are widely used resources to examine the entry and exit of a bullet,” explains Moreno-Ibáñez. “Same method, but applied to prehistoric archaeology.”

The researchers chose the two most common weapons from the time, a stone axe and an adze – two tools that were also useful to injure an enemy – because the object that was used in the assault left the mark of a straight surface on the bone of the victim, which led them to rule out other options.

Moreno-Ibáñez points out that in Late Neolithic Europe, “violent confrontations [began], although not on a large scale or in a widespread manner.” Despite this, these encounters did not always mean certain death for the participants; there is “evidence of healed wounds and even very archaic proto-surgery and medical care,” says the author.

Ironically, this was due to an increase in the general quality of life, a greater production of food, livestock and agriculture, with the important growth in population this entails. This “inevitably causes clashes and rivalries” between different groups, continues the scientist, who is also a lecturer at the Rovira i Virgili University. However, “you shouldn’t think that they were at war all day.”

Regarding the dead man that was found in the Tarragona cave, the researcher considers it to be an isolated case of violence that “got out of hand.” The scientists found the victim buried with “funeral treatment” in the archaeological site, “just like the other corpses found; there is no difference.”

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