See other History Articles
Title: Brutal lives of Stone Age Britons
Source:
BBC News
URL Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/4757861.stm
Published: May 11, 2006
Author: Paul Rincon, BBC News science reporter
Post Date: 2006-05-11 13:29:20 by robin
Keywords: None
Views: 72
Comments: 14
Early Neolithic Britons had a one in 20 chance of suffering a skull fracture at the hands of someone else and a one in 50 chance of dying from their injuries. Details were presented at a meeting of the Society for American Archaeology and reported in New Scientist magazine. Blunt instruments such as clubs were responsible for most of the trauma. This is not the first time human-induced injuries have been identified in Neolithic people. But the authors say it is the first study to give some idea of the overall frequency of such trauma. Rick Schulting of Queen's University Belfast and Michael Wysocki from the University of Central Lancashire looked at skulls spanning the period from 4000 BC to 3200 BC. "We generally think of Neolithic people as living peaceful lives - they were busy looking after cereal crops and rearing livestock," Mr Wysocki told the BBC News website. "But it was a much more violent society." Mortal wounds Nearly 5% of the skulls showed healed depressed fractures. They found unhealed injuries in 2% of the sample, suggesting these individuals died from their wounds. But the true scale of the violence still remains unclear due to the nature of the evidence, say the authors. In other simple, small-scale societies, the incidence of death as a result of violence ranges from 8-33%. "A lot of lethal injuries will be to soft tissues and that needn't affect bone." The researchers suspect that what they are seeing is violence at the local and regional level rather than large-scale warfare involving large sections of the country. "We could also be seeing raiding parties, cattle rustling, somebody suspecting the other tribe across the hill is practising witchcraft," the University of Central Lancashire forensic anthropologist explained. "Some of the violence may be domestic, some of it may even be ritualised." The majority of the trauma was caused by blunt instruments which may have included improvised clubs. But a handful of fractures look like they have been inflicted by flint arrowheads and spearpoints. One of the females in the sample appears to have been the victim of a brutal attack with a stone axe. Another indivdual with a suspected projectile fracture appears to have had their ears slashed off - a possible instance of trophy-taking, the researchers speculate. The research originally appeared in the the Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society journal. Poster Comment:
BBC News science reporter 
A survey of British skulls from the early part of the New Stone Age, or Neolithic, shows societies then were more violent than was supposed. 
"Our data shows 2% lethal cranial injuries, but these are just cranial. The data for other societies is for all lethal injuries, but ours is limited so we can't compare it," Mr Wysocki said. 
Simply shocking!
Reminds me of the bog bodies of europe, many were murdered.
Post Comment Private Reply Ignore Thread
Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/Latest
#1. To: robin (#0)
I thought they all followed a kinder, gentler matriarchal society based on worship of the Goddess and they spent their time making daisy chain necklaces.
"I woke up in the CRAZY HOUSE."
The thought occurs to me that this is why the giving of the Law - whatever Law - was regarded so highly and almost as a mythic event in so many societies. Without law, we become like these savages just clubbing each other over the head. This article should be mandatory reading for neo-cons, except they LIKE clubbing people over the head.
"I woke up in the CRAZY HOUSE."
;) wannabe Druid fantasies
Guard against the impostures of pretended patriotism. – George Washington "If the president made us go to war with Iraq, why doesn't he go over there and fight the war?" Christian May [6th grader] Oh, they know, that's why they have no respect for the law, especially the Constitutional laws.
Guard against the impostures of pretended patriotism. – George Washington "If the president made us go to war with Iraq, why doesn't he go over there and fight the war?" Christian May [6th grader] I was watching a show the other night on rebuilding Stonehenge - fascinating show. THese archaeologists built a life size complete replica of Stonehenge (the actual thing is missing a lot of parts) on Salisbury Plain to see if they could figure out what and how it was used. They got a lot of info from the experiment, but at one point they had some "Druids" wandering around doing an "authentic" ceremony. I don't care what they believe in, but I just think it's funny as hell.
"I woke up in the CRAZY HOUSE."
Very funny! I hope they taped it.
Guard against the impostures of pretended patriotism. – George Washington "If the president made us go to war with Iraq, why doesn't he go over there and fight the war?" Christian May [6th grader] Let me guess, it's all Whitey's fault. If you think the UK was bad, you should see went on in Mesopotamia.
#2. To: robin (#0)
#3. To: mehitable (#1)
I thought they all followed a kinder, gentler matriarchal society based on worship of the Goddess and they spent their time making daisy chain necklaces.
#4. To: mehitable (#2)
Without law, we become like these savages just clubbing each other over the head. This article should be mandatory reading for neo-cons, except they LIKE clubbing people over the head.
#5. To: robin (#3)
#6. To: mehitable (#5)
They got a lot of info from the experiment, but at one point they had some "Druids" wandering around doing an "authentic" ceremony. I don't care what they believe in, but I just think it's funny as hell.
#7. To: robin (#0)
 | What's that Mr. Nipples? You want me to ask the nice lady about her rack?. |
#8. To: TommyTheMadArtist (#7)
But that was back when it was white ;P
If you think the UK was bad, you should see went on in Mesopotamia.
Guard against the impostures of pretended patriotism. – George Washington "If the president made us go to war with Iraq, why doesn't he go over there and fight the war?" Christian May [6th grader]
#9. To: TommyTheMadArtist (#7)
You mean like what we've been doing to them for the last three years?
If you think the UK was bad, you should see went on in Mesopotamia.
Get a bellyful of it today!
#10. To: robin (#8)
You're killing me. Mesopotamia was never white.
| What's that Mr. Nipples? You want me to ask the nice lady about her rack?. |
#11. To: Esso (#9)
So we should be blaming Whitey then right?
| What's that Mr. Nipples? You want me to ask the nice lady about her rack?. |
#12. To: TommyTheMadArtist (#10)
Yeah, but it was always a Mes :)
You're killing me. Mesopotamia was never white.
"I woke up in the CRAZY HOUSE."
#13. To: TommyTheMadArtist (#11)
What's going on in the ME is the work of jews and zionists.
So we should be blaming Whitey then right?
Get a bellyful of it today!
#14. To: TommyTheMadArtist (#10)
Well the cradle of civilization has been many cultures. Nearby Persia or Iran is (literally "Land of Aryans"). Teutons/Celts came from somewhere. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celts http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teutons People migrate and change, even Vikings...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mesopotamia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persia
Migration and evolution
Guard against the impostures of pretended patriotism. – George Washington "If the president made us go to war with Iraq, why doesn't he go over there and fight the war?" Christian May [6th grader]
Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/Latest