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 Scientists on Wednesday said a fossilized skull discovered deep
inside a Spanish cave shows telltale signs of homicide: two
fractures inflicted by the same weapon.
The skull, belonging to a primitive member of the Neanderthal
lineage, was found in an apparent funerary site down a shaft in the
appropriately bleak-sounding Sima de los Huesos, Spanish for "Pit of
the Bones," in the Atapuerca mountains.
The skull shows that our species, Homo sapiens, cannot claim a
monopoly on murder.
"This individual was killed in an act of lethal interpersonal
violence, providing a window into an often-invisible aspect of the
social life of our human ancestors," said paleontologist Nohemi Sala
of Madrid's Centro Mixto UCM-ISCIII de Evolución y Comportamiento
Humano.
This oldest-known example of murder occurred 230,000 years before
our species first appeared in Africa.
"Based on the similarities in shape and size of both the wounds, we
believe they are the result of repeated blows with the same object
and inflicted by another individual, perhaps in a face-to-face
encounter," Sala added.
Remains of nearly 30 individuals were found at the bottom of the
43-foot (13-meter) shaft.
The murder victim suffered two penetrating fractures on the
forehead's left side, above the eye. Using forensic methods like
those employed by police, the researchers interpreted the wounds,
each nearly an inch (2 cm) wide, as evidence of blunt-force trauma
occurring around the time of death.
"We have examined the bone microscopically and used CT scans," added
paleontologist Juan Luis Arsuaga of the Universidad Complutense de
Madrid.
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Sala said the weapon may have been a wooden spear, stone spear tip
or stone hand-axe.
The presence of a notch at a similar location in the outlines of
both fractures indicates they were caused by the same object. "Since
either of these wounds would likely have been lethal, penetrating
the brain, the presence of multiple wounds implies an intention to
kill," Sala said.
Arsuaga said the victim was a young adult. Whether it was a man or
woman is not clear.
The motive and perpetrator are unlikely ever to be known.
"Unfortunately, the intentions do not fossilize, so it is impossible
to interpret the motivation of the killing," Sala said. "Not even
Sherlock Holmes could help us in that."
The research appears in the scientific journal PLOS ONE.
(Reporting by Will Dunham; Editing by David Gregorio)
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