
Holocene massacres
Broken skulls, broken bones with traces of projectile shells, stricken neck arrows, broken ribs, knees, hands, innocent victims, including a pregnant woman who had her hands tied before a mortal blow.
Such atrocities resemble the worst examples of modern wars. But this is a description of the clash of tribes of African hunter-gatherers about 10,000 years ago.

Archaeologists have foundin the historic Nataruk district on the shores of Lake Turkana in Kenya, traces of one of the first massacres in Earth's history. This means that people went to war tribe to tribe even in ancient times, even before the advent of civilization. The find of archaeologists is the oldest scientifically confirmed case of group conflict among human tribes, a predecessor of what we mean by the word “war”.
“The injuries sustained by residents of Nataruk - men and women, pregnant or not, young and old - are shocking with their ruthlessness,” says Marta Mirazon Larfrom the University of Cambridge, a member of the expedition and co-author of scientific work. “What we see in the prehistoric place of Nataruk is no different from the battles, wars and conquests that have so much influenced our history, and in the end they continue to affect our lives.”

Hunter-gatherers of those times lived a relatively primitive life. It would seem that they have no reason to fight, but there was some reason. It can be anything: for example, stocks of salted meat or nuts, finally, women and children.
The massacre bears the traces of a planned attack, and not some random collision: the killers had weapons that they did not use for hunting or fishing, including maces of various sizes. Found missiles from obsidian - a rare substance in those parts - suggest that the attackers came from a different area, and violence was commonplace for them.
The scientific article describes 12 skeletons, of which 10 have obvious signs of violent death. These 12 survived over 20% of the bones. In total, the remains of 27 people were found (8 men, 8 women, 5 adults, whose gender could not be determined, and 6 children). Four out of twelve seemed to have their hands tied. The prehistoric killers did not bury their victims, they all remained in the same poses in which they found death.

The photograph shows the skeleton of a pregnant woman, whose pose suggests that her hands were tied.

The age of the remains is determined by the method of radiocarbon analysis and is 9500-10500 years.
The article “Intergroup Violence Among the Early Holocene Hunter-Gatherers in West Turkan, Kenya” was published in the journal Nature ( pdf ).
Interestingly, wars are still waged in about the same region of Africa: “And now in the 21st century it is a district with a lot of brutal violence,” said Luke Glowacki, an anthropologist from Harvard. “From my point of view, it is very instructive that the first high-quality fossil evidence of warfare among ancient hunter-gatherers came from a place where intergroup violence continues to this day.”
Such atrocities resemble the worst examples of modern wars. But this is a description of the clash of tribes of African hunter-gatherers about 10,000 years ago.

Archaeologists have foundin the historic Nataruk district on the shores of Lake Turkana in Kenya, traces of one of the first massacres in Earth's history. This means that people went to war tribe to tribe even in ancient times, even before the advent of civilization. The find of archaeologists is the oldest scientifically confirmed case of group conflict among human tribes, a predecessor of what we mean by the word “war”.
“The injuries sustained by residents of Nataruk - men and women, pregnant or not, young and old - are shocking with their ruthlessness,” says Marta Mirazon Larfrom the University of Cambridge, a member of the expedition and co-author of scientific work. “What we see in the prehistoric place of Nataruk is no different from the battles, wars and conquests that have so much influenced our history, and in the end they continue to affect our lives.”

Hunter-gatherers of those times lived a relatively primitive life. It would seem that they have no reason to fight, but there was some reason. It can be anything: for example, stocks of salted meat or nuts, finally, women and children.
The massacre bears the traces of a planned attack, and not some random collision: the killers had weapons that they did not use for hunting or fishing, including maces of various sizes. Found missiles from obsidian - a rare substance in those parts - suggest that the attackers came from a different area, and violence was commonplace for them.
The scientific article describes 12 skeletons, of which 10 have obvious signs of violent death. These 12 survived over 20% of the bones. In total, the remains of 27 people were found (8 men, 8 women, 5 adults, whose gender could not be determined, and 6 children). Four out of twelve seemed to have their hands tied. The prehistoric killers did not bury their victims, they all remained in the same poses in which they found death.

The photograph shows the skeleton of a pregnant woman, whose pose suggests that her hands were tied.

The age of the remains is determined by the method of radiocarbon analysis and is 9500-10500 years.
The article “Intergroup Violence Among the Early Holocene Hunter-Gatherers in West Turkan, Kenya” was published in the journal Nature ( pdf ).
Interestingly, wars are still waged in about the same region of Africa: “And now in the 21st century it is a district with a lot of brutal violence,” said Luke Glowacki, an anthropologist from Harvard. “From my point of view, it is very instructive that the first high-quality fossil evidence of warfare among ancient hunter-gatherers came from a place where intergroup violence continues to this day.”