Verdict
"One wound proves little alone, but it adds to a growing pile of evidence that deadly violence among humans goes back far further than farming."
GEO HIGHLIGHTS
- Researchers found a 15mm hole in the left shoulder blade of a Neanderthal who died about 75,000 years ago in Shanidar Cave, Iraqi Kurdistan.
- They believe a sharpened wooden spear entered the chest, likely damaging a lung and major blood vessels, and exited through the shoulder blade.
- Lead author Dr Emma Pomeroy of Cambridge says it may be the earliest evidence of lethal interpersonal violence from a wooden spear.
- The study was published in the journal Scientific Reports.
The remains, called Shanidar A, include the shoulder blade, the right hand, three ribs and some teeth. Shanidar Cave is famous: remains of at least 10 Neanderthals were found there in the 1950s, including one, about 50,000 years old, with a partly healed rib wound probably made by a stone-tipped spear.
Neanderthals were a separate human species that lived across Europe and western and central Asia and died out around 40,000 years ago.
Neanderthals were a separate human species that lived across Europe and western and central Asia and died out around 40,000 years ago.
Reality Check
Why a spear and not a fall or an animal? The hole is almost perfectly round. "It is not the kind of break that you would get naturally," Pomeroy said, and experiments with reconstructed wooden spears make very similar holes. She even suggests the strike may have been an intended heart shot.The study leaves open whether this was murder or a hunting accident. Prof Chris Stringer of the Natural History Museum, who wasn't involved, thinks an attack by a rival is more likely given the position of the wound.
The bigger debate is about when humans started killing each other. Archaeologists long linked organised violence to farming and permanent settlements. But a 2022 study of skulls from Spain's "Pit of Bones", about 430,000 years old, found 57 healed head injuries among 20 individuals and repeated wounds in nearly the same spot. Shanidar A fits that pattern: individual killings predate farming by a very long way.
💀 Critical Risks
- A hunting accident ("friendly fire") can't be ruled out.
- A single individual can't tell us how common violence was in Neanderthal society.
- The remains are partial, so the full cause of death is inferred, not observed.
FAQ: Does this mean Neanderthals were warlike?
Not necessarily. It shows that lethal violence happened, possibly between individuals. Whether it was common, or ever organised into group conflict, is still debated.