2024/12/15 by Rick Schulting, Teresa Fernández‐Crespo, Javier Ordoño +7 · 1 voice
Earth and Planetary Sciences · Arts and Humanities · Social Sciences · #Archaeology and ancient environmental studies #Forensic Anthropology and Bioarchaeology Studies #Historical and Cultural Archaeology Studies
paper · pdf · doi:10.15184/aqy.2024.180
Direct physical evidence for violent interpersonal conflict is seen only sporadically in the archaeological record for prehistoric Britain. Human remains from Charterhouse Warren, south-west England, therefore present a unique opportunity for the study of mass violence in the Early Bronze Age. At least 37 men, women and children were killed and butchered, their disarticulated remains thrown into a 15m-deep natural shaft in what is, most plausibly, interpreted as a single event. The authors examine the physical remains and debate the societal tensions that could motivate a level and scale of violence that is unprecedented in British prehistory.