New research suggests that dozens of Bronze Age Britons were killed in an attack previously unknown to archaeologists studying the period and site.
The research on human remains from Charterhouse Warren in southwest England was carried out by a team of researchers from several institutions, including the University of Oxford published in ancient timesa journal for world archaeology. It was found that at least 37 Bronze Age men, women and children were “killed and slaughtered” and then cannibalized, with their bodies then dumped into a natural shaft almost 15 meters deep. While archaeologists have found Bronze Age and later remains of Britons who died violently, these incidents have largely been isolated cases. Mass graves from this period have also been found, but the remains were buried respectfully, unlike the remains examined.
Researchers first became aware of the shaft in the 1970s. Two excavations were carried out in the 1970s and 1980s. During these excavations, human remains were found at several locations in the shaft, as well as some artifacts, including a flint dagger. In total, more than 3,000 individual human bones and bone fragments were recovered. Based on these bones, it was estimated that there were at least 37 individual remains in the shaft. Different bone lengths show that the people killed were both men and women and ranged in age from infants to mature adults. Ongoing research is working to determine how people were related to each other.
The manner in which the remains were disposed of made the detailed study possible, the researchers said. The shaft helped preserve the bones and hold them together.
Cambridge University Press on behalf of Antiquity Publications Ltd
According to the researchers, the bones “show clear evidence of blunt force trauma,” suggesting that many of the people in the shaft “suffered violent deaths.” Other injuries, including removal of the scalp and severed jaw muscles suggestive of removal of the tongue or lower jaw, also likely occurred, as evidenced by markings on the bones, the researchers said. Some of the victims may have been decapitated or dismembered.
Due to the severity of the injuries, it is possible that the victims were held captive or were ambushed, the researchers said. It is unclear who may have carried out the attacks.
There was also evidence that the bodies were cannibalized, the researchers said, including human tooth marks on the bones and signs that marrow, the soft tissue inside the bones, had been removed. The researchers said the cannibalism likely occurred “in the context of a violent conflict in which individuals are dehumanized and treated like animals.”
“Approximately 37 men, women and children – and possibly many more – were killed at close range with blunt instruments and then systematically dismembered and dismembered, with their long bones broken in a manner that can only be described as slaughter,” said the researchers.
Later in the paper, researchers referred to the scene as a “massacre” and suggested it may even have been a “political statement” of violence so bold that it “resonated throughout the region and over time.” would have”. However, it is unclear what could have led to the violence: “Neither climate change, ethnic conflicts nor competition for material resources appear to offer convincing explanations,” say the researchers, leaving the only likely possibility that the violence occurred within this context Violence is a pattern of revenge or violence between communities.
“At this point, our investigation has raised as many questions as it has answered,” the researchers said. “Work continues to shed more light on this decidedly dark episode in British prehistory.”
