BASEL, SWITZERLAND—Evidence from a mass grave in Germany dating to roughly 7,000 years ago suggests that conflicts in Neolithic Europe, when humans first began to farm, were far more brutal than had been previously thought, according to a press release from the University of Basel. The skeletons from the Schöneck-Kilianstädten gravesite, which was discovered in 2006, included adults and children, but were mostly male. They bore evidence of damage from arrows as well as major damage to the head, face, and teeth. In addition, the attackers appear to have broken the victims’ legs in a systematic manner, possibly as a form of torture or bodily mutilation. The researchers believe such massacres were common during the Central European Neolithic period. "We don't know what was going on for sure at this time, but we think several farming communities were targeting each other," Christian Meyer of the University of Mainz in Germany told BBC News. To read about a mass grave in England that may hold Viking victims of a massacre, go to “Vengeance on the Vikings.”
