Journal
NATURE
Volume 529, Issue 7586, Pages 394-+Publisher
NATURE PUBLISHING GROUP
DOI: 10.1038/nature16477
Keywords
-
Categories
Funding
- European Research Council (IN-AFRICA) [ERC 295907]
- Newby Trust
- McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, University of Cambridge
Ask authors/readers for more resources
The nature of inter-group relations among prehistoric hunter-gatherers remains disputed, with arguments in favour and against the existence of warfare before the development of sedentary societies(1,2). Here we report on a case of inter-group violence towards a group of hunter-gatherers from Nataruk, west of Lake Turkana, which during the late Pleistocene/early Holocene period extended about 30 km beyond its present-day shore(3). Ten of the twelve articulated skeletons found at Nataruk show evidence of having died violently at the edge of a lagoon, into which some of the bodies fell. The remains from Nataruk are unique, preserved by the particular conditions of the lagoon with no evidence of deliberate burial. They offer a rare glimpse into the life and death of past foraging people, and evidence that warfare was part of the repertoire of inter-group relations among prehistoric hunter-gatherers.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available