China News Service, Beijing, May 28 (Reporter Sun Zifa) The Sultan Jebel Sahaba (Jebel Sahaba) prehistoric cemetery about 13,400 years ago is considered to be one of the oldest sites with remnants of human war.
Springer Nature’s open-access academic journal "Science Reports" recently published an archaeological research paper saying that the re-analysis of the cemetery by archaeologists showed that hunter-fishing-gatherers had participated in many small-scale violent conflicts at the time. .
The research paper stated that there were healing wounds on the bones excavated in the Jebel Sahaba cemetery, indicating that these individuals had participated in multiple violent attacks and survived, instead of being killed in a fight as previously thought.
A piece of wreckage has traces of long-range shooting wounds on the front surface of the left hip bone, which is embedded with stones (picture from the author of the paper).
Photo courtesy of Springer Nature
Corresponding author of the paper, Isabelle Crevecoeur of the University of Bordeaux in France and Daniel Antoine of the British Museum in England and colleagues used the latest microscope technology to reanalyze the earliest Skeletal remains of 61 individuals unearthed in the 1960s.
They identified 106 previously unrecorded injuries and traumas, and distinguished which were projectile injuries (from arrows or spears), trauma (from close combat), and traces related to natural corrosion.
Research by archaeologists found that 41 individuals (67%) buried in the Jebel Sahaba cemetery had at least one type of healing or unhealed wound.
Among the 41 individuals with wounds, there is evidence that 92% of the wounds were caused by projectiles and close fighting, indicating that too many violent behaviors between people have occurred.
Picture of the archive of the funeral for two persons. The pencil marks the location of the stonework in the tomb (picture from the archives of the British Museum).
Photo courtesy of Springer Nature
The author of the paper pointed out that the number of wounds healed is consistent with the violence that was repeatedly disseminated among ethnic groups in the Nile River basin at the end of the Late Pleistocene (126,000 to 11,700 years ago), and these violence are sometimes not fatal.
They infer that these violent acts may be repeated skirmishes or surprise attacks between different ethnic groups.
The latest study found that at least half of the wounds in the bone remains of the Jebel Sahaba cemetery were identified as stabbings caused by projectiles such as spears and arrows. This also supports the author’s theory that these wounds came from other ethnic groups. Attacks launched from a certain distance, not local conflicts. (Finish)