In an experiment, experts created 7 artificial skulls and used two common weapons from the Stone Age to break them and study the resulting injuries.
Miguel Ángel Moreno-Ibáñez conducts experiments using weapons to strike the artificial skulls.
Scientists have identified the weapons used in the massacre of 34 individuals in a cave in Germany and another person in Spain approximately 5,000 years ago, as reported by IFL Science on February 18. The new research has been published in the journal Archaeological Science.
In this latest study, the team of experts manufactured a series of artificial skulls, then shattered them using common tools and weapons from the Neolithic period, documenting the types of skull injuries each weapon created. They explained that a rise in minor crises among Neolithic communities in Europe led to increased violent conflict. “In the context of violence occurring between individuals and groups, head injuries from stone axes and blunt axes were prevalent,” the team noted.
Video: IFL Science
During the Talheim massacre in the Stone Age, 34 individuals in a cave in Germany lost their lives, leaving behind shattered skulls. Scientists also found another shattered skull at Cova Foradada, Spain, dating to a similar period. Evidence clearly indicates that all victims were struck on the head with a blunt object. However, reconstructing the event and identifying the exact weapons used presents a significant archaeological challenge.
To solve this mystery, the research team created 7 simulated skulls made from polyurethane covered in rubber skin, filled with gelatin to mimic brain tissue. The study’s author, Miguel Ángel Moreno-Ibáñez, an expert at Rovira I Virgili University (Spain), used two tools: a stone axe and a blunt axe (a tool similar to an axe but with a blade perpendicular to the handle) to strike each skull from various angles and heights to investigate the cracking patterns they produced.
The stone axe and blunt axe are very similar tools, but there are certain distinctive fracture patterns that helped the research team differentiate between them. The experiments also showed that striking the skull from a greater height increased the likelihood of penetrating the brain, meaning that an attacker striking from a higher position would inflict more severe injuries on the victim.
The research team concluded that the victims at both Talheim and Cova Foradada could have been killed with a blunt axe. They also determined that the victim at Cova Foradada was likely attacked from behind, suggesting that this individual may have been executed rather than dying in battle.
