The oldest wars in Europe took place a thousand years earlier than scientists believed
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Scientists have discovered that large-scale wars took place in Europe 1,000 years earlier than researchers thought.
The earliest armed conflict in Europe was previously thought to have occurred in the Bronze Age, approximately 4,000-2,800 years ago.
However, re-analysis of skeletal remains in Spain indicates that the conflicts took place about 5 thousand years ago, in the era Neolithic.
The relevant study was published in the journal Scientific Reports, The Guardian reports.
Scientists conducted a repeated radiocarbon analysis of more than 300 sets of skeletal remains aged 5,000 to 5,400 years, found at the San Juan ante Portam Latinam parking lot in modern Spain.
Scientists came to the conclusion that the conflicts took place long before powerful states were formed in the region.
| Photo: Nature |
In the course of the study, the skeletal remains of 338 people from a mass burial site in a shallow cave were studied.
The number of damaged bones and the disproportionately high percentage of male casualties suggest that the wounds were sustained as a result of a conflict that may have lasted at least several months.
The researchers found a significantly higher rate of trauma than was typical for the time: 23% of people had signs of skeletal damage, and 10% had unhealed injuries.
Teenagers and adult men were especially affected, accounting for 97.6% of unhealed injuries and 81.7% of healed injuries.
Also found at the site were 52 flint arrowheads, 36 of which had minor impact damage.
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| Wars in Europe took place a thousand years earlier than previously thought, and were mostly fought by men |
“The results suggest that many people, mostly men, were abused and eventually killed in battles and raids, as in many societies participation in warfare was largely limited to this demographic group.
The proportion of victims was probably much higher than the 10.1% of people with unhealed injuries, given the presence of isolated cases of unhealed postcranial injuries and arrowheads that could have penetrated soft tissue.”scientists say.
Previous studies have suggested that the conflicts consisted of short raids that lasted several days and involved small groups of up to 20-30 people.
Early societies lacked the material and technical capabilities to support longer, large-scale conflicts.
We will remind you that rock paintings about childbirth and pregnancy from the Neolithic period were found earlier in Turkey.
And in Spain, they found a hundred rock paintings from Paleolithic times.
Read also: 4 perfectly preserved 1900-year-old Roman swords were found in Israel. PHOTO
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