430,000-Year-Old Victim Discovered With Head Traumas.

by Guest Thu May 28, 2015 1:09 pm

Age: unknown. Sex: unknown. Cause of death: blunt force trauma. Time of Death: 430,000 B.C., give or take a few thousand years.
Archaeologists may have unearthed one of the world's oldest cold cases — a skull fragment found in a Spanish cave from an ancient murder victim whose head was bashed in. The skull was first unearthed in the Atapuerca Mountains, which are threaded by a series of limestone caves, sinkholes and tunnels. In 1987, researchers scrambled down a chimney into one of those caves to discover a giant bone bed.

http://www.livescience.com/50991-oldest-murder-victim-found.html

by Guest Thu May 28, 2015 1:12 pm

it might have been an attempt at curing his head ache..

by The Devil, You Know Thu May 28, 2015 1:16 pm

it could have been a number of things. a little hard to call it murder. he could have been a willing sacrifice, someone being put of of his misery or lunch

the problem is some twat will no doubt waste police time trying to find the culprit

by Raggamuffin Thu May 28, 2015 1:23 pm

heavenlyfatheragain wrote:it might have been an attempt at curing his head ache..

Yes. Didn't they used to drill holes in skulls to cure headaches?

Maybe it went a bit wrong. rabbit

by Guest Thu May 28, 2015 1:24 pm

The Devil, You Know wrote:it could have been a number of things. a little hard to call it murder. he could have been a willing sacrifice, someone being put of of his misery or lunch

the problem is some twat will no doubt waste police time trying to find the culprit

It could be many things and why it is important to learn about the past.
Why this seems such a travesty to research such a matter of history is just sour grapes it seems.

by Guest Thu May 28, 2015 2:11 pm

Raggamuffin wrote:
heavenlyfatheragain wrote:it might have been an attempt at curing his head ache..

Yes. Didn't they used to drill holes in skulls to cure headaches?

Maybe it went a bit wrong.

it went more than a bit wrong..lol probably early nhs op... Smile

by veya_victaous Thu May 28, 2015 11:41 pm

there is no evidence that it is murder
the skull could belong to an enemy it could be the result of a fair fight

Violence is still a method or conflict resolution, murder is specifically premeditated and unjustified.

Bit of a shame the article tried to 'CSI it' rather than just discuss the pit seem like an interesting site quite an interesting period when you have multiple types of Humans and this site seem like it transitions from a Heidelbergensis to Sapiens living/burial site
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homo_heidelbergensis

by jaded fox Fri May 29, 2015 10:08 am

I want to hear more about the bone bed.

by Guest Fri May 29, 2015 11:46 am

Did anyone read the link:

To solve this ancient murder mystery, the team analyzed the chemical makeup and structure of the bone around the holes, and found the head wounds had not healed before death, suggesting the man or woman died of his injuries.

While it's possible that the "person" took a tumble down the chimney and bashed his head on a limestone boulder, it's unlikely he could have sustained two such wounds through an accidental fall, the researchers wrote in their paper, which was published today (May 27) in the journal PLOS ONE. In addition, the slow settling of the ground over hundreds of thousands of years didn't produce enough energy to cause the person's head wounds, Sala added.

That left one logical conclusion: murder.

"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 said. "We are not sure what the object was. However, possibilities include a wooden spear or a stone hand ax."

While ancient hominins may have cannibalized and butchered each other, there has been relatively little evidence for people using deadly force against other humans during the Paleolithic.

Not conclusive of course, but clearly points to the subject being killed or murdered. So yes the title is misleading, as nobody can say for sure if it was murder, even if it does point to where the subject has been killed it could have been a dispute, local tribal conflict etc.

So I will change the title, as it is poor from the media outlet

by Sponsored content

430,000-Year-Old Victim Discovered With Head Traumas.

430,000-Year-Old Victim Discovered With Head Traumas.

Re: 430,000-Year-Old Victim Discovered With Head Traumas.

Re: 430,000-Year-Old Victim Discovered With Head Traumas.

Re: 430,000-Year-Old Victim Discovered With Head Traumas.

Re: 430,000-Year-Old Victim Discovered With Head Traumas.

Re: 430,000-Year-Old Victim Discovered With Head Traumas.

Re: 430,000-Year-Old Victim Discovered With Head Traumas.

Re: 430,000-Year-Old Victim Discovered With Head Traumas.

Re: 430,000-Year-Old Victim Discovered With Head Traumas.

Re: 430,000-Year-Old Victim Discovered With Head Traumas.