Prehistoric Massacre In Europe: Archaeologists Find 7,000-Year-Old Mass Grave
Scientists working in Germany believe an ancient gravesite supports theories of a prehistoric massacre in Europe from 7,000 years ago, according to a Fox News report.
A team of archaeologists, led by Christian Meyer of the University of Mainz, said they found rare evidence of a horrific regional conflict that involved torture and mass death during the Stone Age. Meyer said a gravesite at Schoeneck-Kilianstaedten near Frankfurt held the skeletal remains of nearly 30 men, women, and children.
New evidence found on massacre in Europe 7000 years ago Read here: http://t.co/4zjN7ftpnx pic.twitter.com/dHg1N1wYGE
— Press TV (@PressTV) August 18, 2015
Most of the massacred victims died from blunt force trauma. There are several findings of fractured skulls, likely done with clubs. Other victims bore horrible wounds from arrows, while others suffered from deliberate strikes to the chins of their legs. Meyer believes this was either meant to prevent victims from escaping or to send a chilling message to survivors.
“It was either torture or mutilation. We can’t say for sure whether the victims were still alive.”
Scientists believe victims in the prehistoric massacre in Europe were among the continent’s first farmers, who depended on the land and its resources for sustenance.
7,000-year-old mass grave with skeletal remains discovered in Europe http://t.co/Zs0ImghP8W pic.twitter.com/SxzP2chwbD
— CBS News (@CBSNews) August 18, 2015
Chris Scarre is an archaeologist at the University of Durham, England. He also agrees with Meyer’s conclusions.
“What is particularly interesting is the level of violence. Not just the suppression of a rival community — if that is what it was — but the egregious and systematic breaking of the lower legs. It suggests the use of terror tactics as part of this inter-community violence.”
The study of the ancient gravesite found in Europe comes on the heels of the recent discovery of a burial site in the United States. According to a report out today by Inquisitr, construction workers in an ordinary field in Pennsylvania stumbled across a mass grave that hid hundreds of victims from the 1918 flu epidemic.
“Turns out, the property was the eternal resting place for an untold number of dead. Historical records suggest up to 1,600 people died of the Spanish flu in a month in Schuylkill County, where the mass grave was found. Several such burial grounds were in use at the time, and one of them was located in Schuylkill Haven, a small town north of Philadelphia.”
Meyer says that while the discovery of the victims at the neolithic gravesite, most bearing wounds inflicted from another, it’s unclear what specifically led to the massacre in prehistoric Europe, according to LiveScience. Climate change and a fight for the region’s limited resources may have caused conflict and infighting.
[Photo via Twitter]
