Rather than being peaceful, ancient hunter-gatherers engaged in violent warfare [View all]

FEBRUARY 10, 2023

A wide-scale examination of early Neolithic human skeletons reveals the violent history of a supposedly peaceful period.


Researchers find evidence of head trauma in Neolithic farmer remains. By using modern forensic methods, archaeologists opened a window into prehistoric warfare and violence. Increasing competition between settled and growing communities may have led to the start of formal warfare in northwestern Europe.

Saugat Bolakhe

Around 10,000 years ago, the Krohl were a semi-nomadic clan, a group of hunter-gatherers who had started adapting to a farming lifestyle in the mixed mountainous forests of northwestern Europe. But his clan struggled to survive as both hunts and crops began to fail. Meanwhile, the neighboring Frohl clan thrived. Enraged, Krohl plotted an attack to take over the resources of their neighbors and, in the process, annihilated the entire Frohl clan, leaving no survivors behind.

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Around 10,000 years ago, the Krohl were a semi-nomadic clan, a group of hunter-gatherers who had started adapting to a farming lifestyle in the mixed mountainous forests of northwestern Europe. But his clan struggled to survive as both hunts and crops began to fail. Meanwhile, the neighboring Frohl clan thrived. Enraged, Krohl plotted an attack to take over the resources of their neighbors and, in the process, annihilated the entire Frohl clan, leaving no survivors behind.

Neolithic wars
While the clash of the Krohl and the Frohl clans is imaginary, the reality may not have been so different. New research published in the journal PNAS suggests that increasing competition between settled and growing communities for resources like arable land may have led to the start of formal warfare in northwestern Europe during the early Neolithic period. In fact, such intergroup violence may have been so prominent that it led to “the utter destruction of entire communities,” the researchers write.

Share Rather than being peaceful, ancient hunter-gatherers engaged in violent warfare on LinkedIn
Around 10,000 years ago, the Krohl were a semi-nomadic clan, a group of hunter-gatherers who had started adapting to a farming lifestyle in the mixed mountainous forests of northwestern Europe. But his clan struggled to survive as both hunts and crops began to fail. Meanwhile, the neighboring Frohl clan thrived. Enraged, Krohl plotted an attack to take over the resources of their neighbors and, in the process, annihilated the entire Frohl clan, leaving no survivors behind.

Neolithic wars
While the clash of the Krohl and the Frohl clans is imaginary, the reality may not have been so different. New research published in the journal PNAS suggests that increasing competition between settled and growing communities for resources like arable land may have led to the start of formal warfare in northwestern Europe during the early Neolithic period. In fact, such intergroup violence may have been so prominent that it led to “the utter destruction of entire communities,” the researchers write.


Back in the early 2000s, Linda Fibiger stumbled upon a mass grave while digging at an archaeological site in Ireland. She noticed the presence of distinct head trauma in many of the skeletal remains. While bones tend to break down naturally over time, researchers can still spot the difference between trauma and natural decay by observing patterns of bone breakage. Studying the prehistoric crime scene like a modern-day detective, she couldn’t help but wonder exactly how our ancient ancestors used to kill each other and what was the wider context for such acts of violence.

The early Neolithic period marks a distinct phase. Not only did it bring about farming, it also marked massive changes in society, demographics, and technology. Fibiger set out to study the era by teaming up with archaeologists across Europe to uncover the broader patterns of the region. Throughout their ten-year study, they looked at around 2,300 individual sets of remains from about 180 sites collected from Denmark, France, Germany, Britain, Sweden, and Spain.

More:
https://bigthink.com/the-past/neolithic-ancient-warfare-hunter-gatherers-farmers/