Tag: archaeology

Burial Pits in France Reveal Grisly Evidence of Brutality During Warfare and Captivity in Neolithic Europe

Archaeologists working in France have discovered new evidence for the antiquity of human brutality in war, discovering Neolithic prisoner abuse dating back to between 4300 and 4150 BCE.

Described in a new paper in Science Advances, the sites at the center of the study were two burial pits in Achenheim and Bergheim, located in northwest France. The signs of brutality discovered in some of the human remains align with other archaeological evidence for military invasions between communities in the Upper Rhine Valley at the time.

The Violence of Neolithic Europe

Life in ancient Europe was harsh, and often made so by humans themselves. Previous studies have revealed massacres of entire communities, raids aimed at abducting young women, and even evidence of ritualized killings or mutilation, practices considered rare among the relatively egalitarian societies of the region.

Beyond isolated acts of violence, the Upper Rhine Valley also shows signs of major cultural upheaval, suggesting a broader war of conquest. The area’s original inhabitants followed Bruebach-Oberbergen cultural traditions, but sometime between 4295 and 4165 BCE, these were supplanted by Western Bischheim practices brought by groups from the Paris Basin.

Investigating the Burial Pits

Until recently, the identities of those buried in Achenheim and Bergheim were unclear. Researchers sought to determine whether the dead were locals or foreigners, and whether they showed evidence of being prisoners of war. Their analysis included 82 sets of remains, yielding a wide spectrum of findings.

In each location, one pit contained clear victims of violence, including individuals with severed upper limbs and unhealed skull fractures. Other pits, by contrast, showed orderly burials with no signs of violent injury, suggesting natural deaths among local residents. Isotopic analysis confirmed significant differences between those with violent injuries and those without, leading researchers to conclude that the violent burials contained members of rival groups. Intriguingly, these victims appeared to come not from a single enemy community, but from several distinct groups.

Keep reading

Shocking Discovery: Neolithic Farmers Cannibalized Enemy Families

A gruesome archaeological discovery in Spain has revealed that 5,700 years ago, Neolithic farmers engaged in systematic cannibalism against entire families, challenging the peaceful image of early agricultural societies. The disturbing evidence from El Mirador cave in the Sierra de Atapuerca suggests that violent inter-group warfare, not survival or ritual, drove these acts of human consumption according to a new study.

Researchers led by Francesc Marginedas from the Catalan Institute of Human Paleoecology and Social Evolution have uncovered the butchered remains of at least 11 individuals – including children as young as seven – showing unmistakable signs of cannibalistic processing. The comprehensive study published in Scientific Reports provides the most detailed evidence yet of warfare-driven cannibalism among Europe’s earliest farming communities.

The victims, ranging from infants to elderly adults, were systematically skinned, dismembered, cooked, and consumed in what researchers describe as an act of “ultimate elimination” by a rival group. This horrifying discovery adds to mounting evidence that the Neolithic period was far more violent than previously imagined.

Systematic Butchery Reveals Horrific Details

The analysis of over 650 bone fragments revealed extensive evidence of deliberate processing. Cut marks, percussion fractures, and boiling traces indicate that the victims were methodically butchered for consumption over several days. Microscopic examination showed that skin and muscle were sliced off, bones were cracked open for marrow extraction, and some remains were translucent from boiling.

“The pattern of modifications found on the modified Neolithic human bones of El Mirador cave is inconsistent with ritual or survival scenarios,” the researchers explain in their study. “Instead, the evidence supports a comprehensive butchering process involving meat, viscera, bone marrow, and brain extraction.”

Human tooth marks found on smaller bones provide particularly disturbing evidence that the perpetrators chewed on their victims’ remains. The extensive nature of the processing suggests this was not an opportunistic act of desperation but a deliberate and systematic consumption of defeated enemies.

The victims included three children, two juveniles, and six adults, representing what appears to be an entire extended family wiped out in a single violent episode. Significantly, the age distribution doesn’t match what researchers would expect from famine-driven cannibalism, which typically affects the most vulnerable populations.

Keep reading

Million-Year-Old Tools Reveal Mystery Human Species

Archaeological excavations on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi have uncovered seven stone tools dating back at least 1.04 million years, potentially extending to 1.48 million years ago. This groundbreaking discovery, published in the journal Nature, represents the oldest evidence of hominin occupation in the Wallacean archipelago and suggests that unknown human relatives were capable of oceanic crossings far earlier than previously imagined. The identity of these ancient toolmakers remains one of archaeology’s most tantalizing mysteries.

The Calio Site Discovery

The seven chert stone artifacts were excavated between 2019 and 2022 at Calio, located in a modern corn field in southern Sulawesi. These simple yet sophisticated tools were manufactured using hard-hammer percussion techniques, where ancient toolmakers struck larger pebbles from nearby riverbeds to create sharp-edged flakes suitable for cutting and scraping tasks. Professor Adam Brumm from Griffith University’s Australian Research Centre for Human Evolution, who co-led the international research team, described the artifacts as “simple, sharp-edged flakes of stone that would have been useful as general-purpose cutting and scraping implements.”

The tools demonstrate remarkable technical knowledge despite their straightforward appearance. Evidence suggests a two-step reduction process was sometimes employed, where large flakes were further reduced into smaller, more manageable tools. Some artifacts even showed retouching – deliberate trimming of edges to enhance sharpness. This level of sophistication indicates that the toolmakers possessed expert understanding of fracture mechanics within a pragmatic, “least effort” approach to tool manufacturing.

Keep reading

Ancient German Pits Expose Haunting Death Rituals From 5,000 Years Ago

Powerline Project Exposes Ancient Secrets

During preparatory work for Germany’s massive SuedOstLink powerline project (a 105-mile-long high-voltage transmission route), electrical workers near Gerstewitz, Saxony-Anhalt, uncovered twelve circular pits initially hidden beneath farmland. This accidental discovery halted construction and prompted a full archaeological excavation led by the State Office for Heritage Management and Archaeology Saxony-Anhalt, in collaboration with energy company 50Hertz. The pits, dating back 5,000 years (3400–3050 BCE), were identified as ritual sites created by the Salzmünde culture—a regional group within the broader Funnelbeaker cultural complex that inhabited the Saale River basin. This discovery adds significantly to understanding this enigmatic Neolithic society known for its complex death rituals.

Inside the Haunting Ritual Pits

Structural Design: Each pit measured 6.5–9.8 feet wide and 6.5–8.2 feet deep (2–2.5 meters), enclosed within a larger ditch system, indicating deliberate, significant construction efforts.

Ceremonial Contents: Archaeologists found a deliberate mix of materials:

  • Charred Building Materials: Burnt remnants of house walls, including daub (loam), suggesting homes were intentionally burned, and rubble ceremonially deposited.
  • Sacrificial Offerings: Intact, carefully placed ceramic vessels found in one pit, indicating their use in rituals rather than daily life .
  • Animal and Human Remains: Dog bones (often found in anatomical order with signs of burning) and human skulls showing no weathering. One pit contained a dog skeleton beside a human skull.
  • Converted Spaces: An ancient oven pit repurposed as a grave held two human individuals who had decomposed elsewhere before burial.

Evidence of Multi-Phase Mortuary Rituals

The arrangement and condition of remains point to prolonged, complex ceremonies:

  • The juxtaposition of anatomically intact dog bones (exposed to fire) alongside an unweathered human skull in the same pit suggests these features were open for extended periods. Researchers propose the dog may have been buried first or preserved elsewhere before being placed alongside the later-added skull.
  • The two bodies found in the repurposed oven pit showed signs of having decomposed at a different location prior to final burial. This indicates a funerary practice involving staged processes—temporary storage or display before internment.
  • These findings align with known Salzmünde practices involving reburials, particularly skulls, and burial under layers of ceramic shards and burnt house debris, hinting at a cosmology deeply connected to ancestral veneration and transformation through fire.

Keep reading

Ancient ‘female-centered’ society thrived 9,000 years ago in Çatalhöyük

Ancient DNA from Stone Age burials in Turkey has finally put to rest a decades-long debate about whether the 9,000-year-old proto-city of Çatalhöyük was a matriarchal society. The research finally confirms what experts have long suspected: Women and girls were key figures in this agricultural society.

“With Çatalhöyük, we now have the oldest genetically-inferred social organisation pattern in food-producing societies,” study co-author Mehmet Somel, an evolutionary geneticist at Middle East Technical University in Turkey, told Live Science in an email. “Which turns out to be female-centered.”

The new research was published Thursday (June 26) in the journal Science.

Located in south-central Turkey, Çatalhöyük was built around 7100 B.C. and was occupied for nearly 1,000 years. The vast settlement — spread over 32.5 acres (13.2 hectares) — is known for its houses that were entered from the roofs, burials beneath the house floors, and elaborate symbolism that included vivid murals and a diverse array of female figurines.

When archaeologist James Mellaart first excavated Çatalhöyük in the early 1960s, he interpreted the numerous female figurines as evidence of a matriarchal society that practiced “mother goddess” worship, perhaps as a way of ensuring a good harvest following a major economic transition from foraging to cereal-based agriculture.

In the 1990s, Stanford archaeologist Ian Hodder took over excavations at Çatalhöyük, and his research suggested instead that the society was largely egalitarian, without meaningful social or economic differences between men and women.

To further investigate the social organization at Çatalhöyük, in a new study, a team of researchers that included both Somel and Hodder analyzed the DNA of 131 skeletons dated to between 7100 and 5800 B.C. that were buried beneath house floors.

The researchers connected 109 people across 31 buildings and found that all first-degree relatives (parents, children and siblings) were buried together in the same building, while second-degree (uncles, aunts, nephews, nieces and grandparents) and third-degree relatives (such as first cousins and great grandparents) were often buried in nearby buildings. This suggests that nuclear or extended families had a role in structuring Çatalhöyük households, the researchers wrote in the study.

Keep reading

6,000-Year-Old Ancient Venus Figurine Discovered in the Polish Baltic, Rewriting History

Deep in the peaceful countryside along Poland‘s Baltic shore, where the Parsęta River flows toward the ocean, a farmer unearthed a find that would rewrite northern Europe’s prehistory. In the sandy ground lay a small, beige sculpture — no more than 12 centimeters tall — given the title of the ‘Kołobrzeg Venus’, a 6,000-year-old limestone statuette.

Now celebrated as one of the most sensational archaeological discoveries in Polish history, the statuette has wide hips, prominent breasts, and absence of facial features. It recalls the ancient Venus figurine convention — female forms sculpted in the Neolithic and Paleolithic eras that have long fascinated and baffled archaeologist, reports  Muzeum Oręża Polskiego w Kołobrzegu.

The figurine was discovered in December 2022 by a farmer working the land near Kołobrzeg, a city that today is better known for its seaside resorts than its ancient past. The farmer passed the object to Waldemar Sadowski of the Parsęta Exploration and Search Group, an amateur archaeological team that collaborates with the Polish Arms Museum.

The discovery was finally shown to professional archaeologist Marcin Krzepkowski of the Relicta Foundation in 2023, who recognised its singularity at once.

“This is the find of the century,” said Aleksander Ostasz, director of the Polish Arms Museum in Kołobrzeg, in an interview with National Geographic. “It absolutely pushes the boundaries of our history of Kołobrzeg.”

Radiocarbon testing established that the figurine is Neolithic in age — around 6,000 years old — which makes it one of the oldest known artifacts associated with settled agricultural communities in this part of Europe. Previously, no such figurines were ever found north of the Carpathians, so Kołobrzeg Venus is a stunning exception and an anomaly in Poland’s archaeological history.

Keep reading

5,000-Year-Old Stone Basin Predates Tomb by 1,000 Years, Transported by Boat

A team of Spanish archaeologists has unraveled one of the most intriguing mysteries in Iberian prehistory: how a massive stone basin ended up inside the Matarrubilla dolmen near Seville—and why it is at least 1,000 years older than the structure meant to enshrine it.

Their findings, published in the Journal of Archaeological Science, not only confirm the earliest known example of megalithic maritime transport in the Iberian Peninsula but also suggest that the Copper Age society in southern Spain was more complex and interconnected than previously believed.

A Monumental Enigma Inside a Dolmen

The Matarrubilla dolmen, part of the vast prehistoric site of Valencina de la Concepción in Andalusia, has long puzzled researchers due to an unusual artifact discovered inside: a rectangular stone basin measuring 1.7 m long, 1.2 m wide, and nearly 0.5 m high. Weighing more than 2,000 kg, the basin’s sheer size, unique material, and placement within the dolmen’s chamber raised numerous questions.

First documented in 1917, the basin seemed far too large to have been maneuvered through the dolmen’s narrow corridor. Additionally, its distinctive rock—gypsiferous cataclasite with red, green, and white veining—does not naturally occur anywhere near Valencina.

Provenance and Transport: From Distant Quarry to Ritual Center

By using geological and geoarchaeological techniques, the research team traced the stone’s likely origin to the opposite side of the ancient Gulf of Guadalquivir, near present-day Las Cabezas de San Juan, approximately 55 km from Valencina. At the time (around 3000–4500 BCE), the gulf stretched much farther inland than it does today.

Because of the stone’s weight and the distance, the team concluded that prehistoric people transported it via water—on rafts or boats—across the ancient bay. Once ashore, the basin was dragged approximately 3 km uphill, likely using wooden sleds and human or animal power.

This marks the first confirmed instance of riverine or maritime transport of a megalith in Iberian prehistory. Comparable methods have only previously been documented at sites like Stonehenge (UK) and Newgrange (Ireland).

Keep reading

Archaeologists Find Grisly Evidence of Medieval Public Punishment

Archaeologists in England have uncovered gruesome evidence of a Medieval-era public punishment which occurred along the River Thames more than 1,200 years ago, according to a new study (via Ancient Origins).

Researchers conducted a full bioarchaeological analysis on the remains of a woman, known as UPT90 sk 1278, who had been beaten to death and was originally unearthed in 1991.

“The burial treatment of UPT90 sk 1278 lets us know that her body was meant to be visible on the landscape, which could be interpreted as a warning to witnesses,” said the study’s lead author, Madeline Mant. “We can tell from the osteobiography that she was executed, but the specific offense is impossible to know for certain.”

Mant and her team found that, as opposed to traditional burials of the time, the woman’s body was not buried but left out in the open to decompose, likely as a warning to other residents of the community. Her body was placed in an area between the river and the shore, which would ensure her corpse would be alternately revealed and hidden by the tides. This was a location frequently chosen for those found to be “socially deviant.” She had been placed between two sheets of bark on top of a reed mat with pads of moss affixed to areas on her face, which Mant believed to be symbolic gestures from her peers.

Keep reading

Archaeologists Discover 140,000-Year-Old Hidden City Beneath the Ocean

Near Indonesia’s Madura Street in the ocean researchers have discovered a city submerged which dates back around 140,000 years. This incredible discovery has had a ripple effect through the anthropological and archaeological communities around the world. They found this submerged city between the islands of Java and Madura, as it was once part of a prehistoric land mass.

It was discovered during marine sand, mining operations and artifacts, as well as fossilized remains, were discovered. Excavations followed, which revealed homo erect skull fragments and over 6000 other fossils that represents 36 different species such as the Komodo dragon and some other extinct fauna.

The wall land mass that connected parts of Southeast Asia was known as Sundaland. In the modern day, it encompasses Malaysia, Indonesia, and other surrounding oceans. Because of lower sea levels back in the day, this land mass was exposed and was a terrestrial habitat that supported human populations and diverse ecosystems.

Because of climate change, the climate has warmed over time, and the glaciers melted approximately 14,000 to 7000 years ago, making the sea levels rise gradually. This resulted in the Sundaland being submerged and becoming the archipelagic geography we see today. One can only assume that the Submersion of this prehistoric gland mass had incredible implications for prehistoric human populations.

Keep reading

Archaeologists Unearth 5,000 Year-Old Tomb That’s Challenging Beliefs About Ancient Society

Buried for five millennia and forgotten beneath what was once a coastal dump, the tomb of a powerful woman from Peru’s ancient Caral civilization has just resurfaced—and it’s rewriting the script on who held status at the dawn of American civilization. This discovery offers fresh insight into a society that may have valued women’s roles far more than history has given credit for.

“This is an important burial because it has elements that correspond to a woman of high status,” archaeologist David Palomino told Reuters. The find was made in Áspero, a site once used as a municipal dump just 112 miles north of Lima, along the Pacific coast. A video of the tomb and women’s findings was shared via @ntc’s Instagram Post.

Far from an ordinary burial, the woman—believed to have died between the ages of 20 and 35—was wrapped with extraordinary care, her body still preserving traces of skin, hair, and even fingernails. She was covered in a mantle woven with blue and brown feathers, possibly from Amazonian macaws, and buried alongside baskets filled with offerings, vases, gourds, and even a toucan’s beak.

Palomino believes the details of the tomb point to more than just individual status—they hint at broader cultural values. “Not only men had an important association in this civilization,” he said, “but this was also complementary with that of women.”

The Caral civilization, active around 3000 B.C., thrived in isolation at the same time as the Egyptian pyramids were rising and Mesopotamia was inventing writing. But unlike those ancient giants, Caral developed without influence from other parts of the world. That makes this discovery all the more fascinating: it suggests gender roles may have been more balanced than previously assumed in one of humanity’s earliest urban experiments.

The site of the tomb—once a forgotten dump—now tells a much older, richer story. And it’s one that might just shift the way we think about power, prestige, and the role of women at the dawn of civilization. The artifacts below were found alongside the burial site at Aspero and serve as physical proof of that the oldest city in the Americas was more advanced than some countries in modern day today.

Keep reading