An 82-person assemblage of Stone Age human skeletons dated 4300–4150 B.C. was excavated in northeastern France. Many individuals show deliberate mutilation including severed left arms or dismembered hands, fractured lower limbs to prevent escape, blunt-force traumas, and bone piercings. Experts interpret severed upper limbs as war trophies removed at battle and taken back to settlements for display. Dental and chemical evidence suggests at least some captives originated near Paris and had varied mobility. Some remains lack mutilation, possibly representing defenders who died resisting. Alternative explanations include collective punishments or sacrifices of social outcasts.
Dating back to between 4300 and 4150 B.C, a total of 82 human skeletons were unearthed in the pits, with some having their left arms severed or hands completely dismembered. Writing in the Science Advances journal, experts said: 'The severed upper limbs would represent war trophies removed at the battle site following the violent encounter and then taken back to the settlement for perhaps further transformation and display.'
Dr Teresa Fernandez-Crespo, who worked on the findings, told Live Science that the warriors had their lower limbs fractured to stop them from fleeing. She said: 'We believe they were brutalised in the context of rituals of triumph or celebrations of victory that followed one or several battles.' Researchers also found they had suffered 'blunt force traumas' as well as signs of piercing holes through their bones, which could point to the invaders being put up on display as a warning for others.
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